1/28/86 - Where were you when the Challenger exploded?

I was in a hospital bed 3000 miles away from my family awaiting emergency surgery on a broken ankle and trying to calm myself down by watching television. I remember thinking “Dan Rather looks bad-something must be happening”.

Questions:

  1. Couldn’t they have done an EVA to inspect the wings?

  2. I know of tiles having fallen off with no consequences. But had any of the other shuttles had the underlying fuselage/wings/empennage damaged? Wasn’t the skin of the wing itself actually punctured?

Being stuck in orbit with no place to go—that really would suck! How long could they have remained in orbit on their own?

I was working at the company office on the east side of Denver. Someone had heard on the radio about the explosion, and we listened to reports for a while, while working. At lunchtime a bunch of us went to a nearby Korean joint, which had a TV, and watched news reports while we ate. Ended up getting rather depressed and don’t recall getting much else done the rest of that particular day.

I was teaching in an international school in the Middle East. One of the other instructors had been a contender for the “teacher” spot. She had been getting “it should have been you!” telegrams from the US–then they switched to “so glad it wasn’t you!”

I did not exist at the time of the *Challenger *disaster, but when we I heard we lost the Columbia in 2003 I was sitting in a barber shop.

No shyte the coverage was wall-to-wall for the rest of the day.

I was in my office at work. My office-mate first told me, apparently quite soon after it happened.

I listened to the local CBS-affiliate news radio station (KCBS, San Francisco) for much of the rest of the day. Someone-or-other, either at CBS or locally at KCBS, was covering every angle they could think of.

At some point later in the afternoon, they (almost literally) dug up Herbert Morrison (then in his late 70’s or 80’s or something like that) to interview him and get his reaction.

Herbert Who? … I hear you ask. Why, Herbert Morrison. Yeah, that Herbert Morrison. The guy who live-announced the Hindenburg explosion on March 6, 1937, who famously went all to pieces in the process. Herbert Morrison, of “Oh, the humanity” fame.

What I remember is being on the School Bus that morning, and, as it happened after most of us had already left home and boarded the bus, one of the kids who got on much later had seen it and told us about it.

But then again, I’m not sure on timing, so can’t be certain I’m remembering correctly.

At home watching the news. I felt bad about it. When they showed Christa and the Challenger boarding the shuttle, our father just kept muttering, “the best… best in training… best in ability…”

Just walked into work, a software shop, the TV was on in lunch room and a few people were there that suggested I watch the live launch with them. So I stayed there. When it exploded, there was this kinda hush of disbelief in the room. No one said anything until the commentator on TV said something like (paraphrase) “This is obviously a major malfunction”.

I was in college but home sick that day and saw it live on TV.

“Obviously a major malfunction”, shortly to be adapted to “what’s your major malfunction?” in Full Metal Jacket.

Another memorable quote from that day was the schoolgirl’s, “ooh, look at the colors” (not yet knowing just what had happened, of course).

Although it may not seem like it, an EVA is a major operation which is planned months in advance and requires extensive preparation of the highly scripted activities. The Manned Maneuvering Unit, which allows for untethered propulsive movement by an astronaut, was retired prior the destruction of Challenger, and spacewalk procedures required a tethered connection to the Orbiter. (The post-Columbia inspections used the CanadaArm to maneuver the astronaut to inspect the thermal protection systems.)

Shuttles typically lose a handful of thermal tiles during re-entry, which is unsurprising given the fact that they are literally glued to a layer of felt attached to the Orbiter wing and superstructure. The loss of a few tiles is generally inconsequential, as they serve only to protect against the radiation emitted by the hot gases through the shock wave; however, during ascent phase of STS-107, one of the the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels which form the leading edge of Orbiter wing was punctured by a piece of frozen insulation, which allowed the hot plasma of the atmosphere to directly attach to the wing structure, rapidly exceeding its thermal capability and causing it to collapse. The subsequent lack of control caused the Orbiter to tumble and break up due to aerodynamic loads.

The Shuttle Extended Duration Orbiter pallet (which STS-107 was equipped with) allows for 16 day long missions. STS-107 had a duration of 15 days and change, so it didn’t have any significant duration left (certainly not enough time to scramble another flight even if another Orbiter and SRB set was available). Columbia could not achieve coincident orbit with the ISS from the STS-107 trajectory, and in fact Columbia couldn’t reach the ISS at all.

Point of fact: Challenger didn’t “explode”; the hot jet of gas escaping from the right-hand SRB cut into the attachment strut and the into the hydrogen tank, causing the booster to break away and unbalance the thrust, resulting in rupture of the of the External Tank and breakup of the Orbiter due to aerodynamic forces. The combustion of the propellants, while producing an impressive cloud, had no real effect on the Orbiter.

Stranger

Your description sure sounds like it meets the definition of explode.

Three of us mechanics were returning from a test flight of a customers airplane. When we contacted the tower to do a few touch and goes, the controller asked us if we knew anyone on the shuttle Challenger. When told that we did, she told us about the explosion. I wish she would have waited until we were back on the ground at the FBO.

My friend, the pilot, had served with one of the astronauts. He was so shook up that he told me to take over. The co-pilot and I landed the aircraft. When we landed he just sat in one of the seats for an hour or so, he was weeping. I stayed with him. It was a very sad experience. We were given the rest of the day off. He died of cancer about two years ago. Also very sad.

The Columbia disaster was very surreal. I was working for one of the companies that supplied parts for that ship. I worked the 3rd shift, and I was supposed to get off early, but as it happened I had to work a little late. So, while I was talking to the first shift guys about the next job, our supervisor told us to get a TV channel on the computer. We all learned of it at the same time.

One of the day shift guys had worked with me at the FBO 17 years earlier. He asked me if I was OK. I got all teary-eyed and had to leave. I rode the motorcycle home, but I do not recall doing it. I took the next day off. It really hit me hard. Why? I do not know. I did not know anyone on it.

Hell, I am getting teared up now! Gotta go, see you! 48.

Thought of getting up a bit early so I could watch the launch before I went
to work, but since I hate getting up in the morning I stayed in bed until
the last minute and then rushed off to work.

At work a small crowd had gathered in front of the supervisor’s office and
was looking through his door. As I walked past, one of the group said that the
Shuttle had exploded. I found this hard to believe and looked through the
doorway and that found the boss had turned on the small black and white
TV he kept in his office. It was impossible to see the image on the TV -
taller people were standing in front of me, the screen was small and full
of static. I stopped by the supervisor’s office an hour or so later and found
him still watching the TV. It was still difficult to see what was going on - the
reception was so poor inside the building. I really didn’t get a good view
of what happened until I got home that night and turned on the T.V. I spent
the rest of that evening amazed and horrified at what had happened.

I’m going to try not to offend anyone at all, or be crass about this, but it’s genuinely completely outside my experience. Is/was it normal for people to pay this much attention to a shuttle launch at this time? Obviously you all remember the loss, but so many people seem to have been watching the actual launch. Was that normal? Was it the inclusion of Christa McAuliffe that attracted more attention? (Wikipedia seems to think so, but is that accurate?)

I think I watched the first launch of the first shuttle, maybe, but the launches weren’t in any way a part of my childhood. Clearly that’s to be expected to some extent - not my country, not my space race. But I’m surprised at the impression I’m getting that it seems normal that people would watch these things live. I have seen the Challenger footage since, of course. It’s very moving.

The point is that there were very few “parts flying outward”. Think of a water balloon: one would say it “burst” or it “ruptured”, but saying it “exploded” is a bit of hyperbole.

But, for most people, it’s the closest thing to a Hollywood-style explosion they’ve seen IRL. So it’s been called an explosion in popular parlance for 28 years, and I expect this will continue.

(This is not meant to be disrespectful, I know we are talking about a traumatic event involving the death of 7 people. :frowning: )

It’s always been my impression that the “teachers in space” concept was meant to draw attention back to the space program. Even though I wasn’t in school yet, I was aware that McAuliffe’s presence was a big deal.

NASA and its launches may have attracted more attention in my town since it was the birthplace (and sometimes residence) of an astronaut. (Name withheld to avoid giving away my hometown – I do remember seeing him jogging around town sometimes. Really nice guy!) He took some products from the company where my dad worked into orbit on one of the shuttle missions. The company had a nice little display on the wall in their plant lobby that featured lots of pictures and a mission patch.

I was a sophomore in HS at the time. We were watching it live and it took us a minute to realize what had happened.

Thanks for the information. :slight_smile: