Remembering The Challenger.

[Spider]

This is one of those moments in US history, where everyone remembers exactly where they were when it happened.

I was in 4th Grade, and I remember watching the coverage at school. With a teacher on-board it was obviously big news and was probably shown at nearly every school in the US. It was around this time in my live that I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. I went to Space Camp the following year with my younger cousin, who also had a similar goal. It was that dream that led me to the Air Force and enjoying the career I have now.

 

[heysi]

We watched it live in my english class my senior year. I remember saying "oh no" as it was obvious to me that something had gone wrong and the girl next to me asking, "is that normal?" It felt weird being the one person in the room that suddenly became the person everyone turned to and ask what happened? I recall feeling like if I said "they just exploded"....it would somehow make it true. I finally said....after a few silent moments...."that looks bad". Several of my classmates openly wept.

I'm glad that our teacher let us watch President Reagan's speech a few days later when he honored their loss. Many more of us cried that day.

 

[EMG06]

This is honestly one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read in a long time (spoke about it already on the reading thread), but worth a look for anyone interested in Challenger and the entire space shuttle program

Challenger

Winner of the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction Winner of the 2024 Kirkus Nonfiction Prize Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Stunning...A heart-pounding...

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[CBLindsay]

Living in SoCal near Edwards AF Base I had the opportunity to see a couple Shuttle landings in person. I was fortunate to see (from kind of far away on the dry lake bed) the Challenger land in late 1985 and Columbia land a year or two earlier (although I was MUCH younger when I saw the Columbia land). We had camped in the lake bed the night before so we could be as close as possible. The lasty one I saw land in person was the Challenger, I even got a "challenger" shuttle pin from some guy on the other side of the fence who was selling them. I'm not sure it was an offical pin or if that it was a "challenger" pin (it was a shuttle attached to the fuel tanks but there was no name tag visible) but to be honest, I don't think I really understood at the time that there were different shuttles)

I remember this day in history quite well. Our school had installed TV's in all rooms but there were few things available to watch so they mostly sat unused high up on a large closet. With a fellow teacher being part of this planned mission, the school worked hard to make as many TV's able to tune as as possible but my teacher had not turned it on. When it all happened the phone on the wall rang and the teacher answered it then blanched as she heard the news. She turned on the TV so we were able to see the replays but did not witness it all "live". Having just seen this same shuttle land a few months earlier made the whole event a little more disturbing. I recall my teacher being VERY calm about it all but seeing she was obviously shaken and holding back for our benefit.

 

[Strop Dragging]

This is an image of the space shuttle Enterprise flying over Toronto, piggybacked on a 747. They fly it at very low altitude, I think to show it off, over a few cities on the east coast that day. I was 11 years old and at an outdoor track and field event at a fairly large (for elementary school) stadium. I remember they paused whatever event was happening so we could all watch it. I remember it feeling like it went RIGHT over our heads!

So a little less than three years later, Challenger happened. I happened to be home sick that day from school, (strangely, I was also home sick from school, tv on, the day Reagan was shot), and watched it happen live. I think because of getting to see that fly over a few years before, I felt so connected and excited about that launch. So gutting.