# 40th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118 "2026-01-28T12:19:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/21 "2026-01-28T15:28:04Z")
I was in high school when it happened. I didn’t watch the launch—likely because shuttle launches were routine by then. A freshman student told me and a friend I was having lunch with that the shuttle had blown up and we didn’t believe him, even making fun of him. That’s how unbelievable it was to me at that time. (But it’s not a response that I’m proud of.) Of course I soon found out he was right. I didn’t watch the news that night, so I didn’t see the video of the explosion, and after a short time, they stopped showing it. It was decades later before I finally saw the video. Seventeen years later, I was following the re-entry of _Columbia_ live when it was lost. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Like the Columbia. Did you know another shuttle almost burned up before Columbia? Tiles were lost and burn through had started. NASA would like you to forget. [But I won’t.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-27) Until this thread, I had no idea that tiles had been lost to such a great extent before the _Columbia_ disaster and that NASA should have known it was a potentially fatal flaw. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > > > Normalization of deviance. > > I’m still mad at NASA, I haven’t got sadder, I’ve gotten madder. Agreed. The more I learn about both disasters, the madder I get. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/22 "2026-01-28T15:36:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > totally depends on defining “Challenger” as the shuttle vehicle itself only, not the entire mission stack. Which flies in the face of how NASA’s civilian-facing PR has generally treated terminology about launch. Call it “lies taught to laymen” and it becomes a lot more palatable. > > During liftoff to the moon, the whole stack was called “Apollo 11”. etc. Fair point. In my mind, I think of the combined stack as STS-51-L, with the Challenger orbiter as the most important component (because it contained the humans). The remaining shuttles displayed in museums are referred to as Discovery and Atlantis, and recall their solid rocket boosters were re-used on other missions. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/23 "2026-01-28T16:08:34Z")
I was in third grade at a school about 20 minutes from the high school where Christa McAuliffe taught (and later I went to high school with her son). We were predictably all pretty excited about our local hero. What I remember most keenly from that day was after the disaster, we were sent out for an unscheduled recess while presumably they tried to figure out what they would do with us for the rest of the day. We didn’t run around or play, we just gathered in groups and talked. They brought us back in and we just kept watching coverage. I guess there was nothing else they could think to do. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/24 "2026-01-28T16:22:47Z")
I remember watching it live in 1st grade. Those of us in schools were actually the only ones who saw it live. CNN had cut away. Because of the teacher in space angle, NASA had arrange a satellite broadcast of the full mission into many schools. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/25 "2026-01-28T16:38:15Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I was in high school when it happened. Same here. Senior in HS. Was in a class called “Current Events,” or something like that. I remember Mr. Domsitz wheeling a TV on a TV cart into the class, and turned on the news. And coincidentally, it happened at 11:39 AM EST, which is the exact same time I am posting this. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/26 "2026-01-28T16:54:05Z")
For Challenger and Columbia, this is what happens when Suits and Politicians override Technical Staff. What should happen, is that the CEO, Directors, etc. should be immediately arrested and charged with manslaughter. This approach has happened in Europe for plane crashes. It will change Management’s focus from profit and schedule to safety. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/27 "2026-01-28T16:57:24Z")
I was a junior in college. I’d known that the launch was supposed to happen that morning, but was in a class (business logistics, if I remember correctly) when the launch, and explosion, occurred. After class, I’d walked over to my work-study job; when I got there, one of my co-workers told me about what had happened (he had heard it on the radio). I was stunned at that moment, and couldn’t imagine what had happened. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/28 "2026-01-28T19:29:41Z")
Interesting story — unfortunately has some unanswered questions. > **[I bought "Remove Before Flight" tags on eBay in 2010—it turns out they're...](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/attached-to-tragedy-tracing-challenger-remove-before-flight-tags/)** > > This is the story of 18 "Remove Before Flight" tags that were detached before NASA's first space shuttle tragedy. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/29 "2026-01-28T21:43:47Z")
I was in HS, & for some forgotten reason was in the teacher’s lounge when I saw it on the TV there. I ran back into the cafeteria & told the lunch aide to turn the TV on. She didn’t move. I think the second time I cursed; "turn the damn TV on (or a word beginning with ‘F’); everyone stopped & looked at me, then at her, then at the TV that she turned on. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d07c76/32.png) [@Hermione1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione1)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/30 "2026-01-29T18:21:11Z")
Forty years ago yesterday, I was in seventh-grade English class. We’d had a two-hour delay due to winter weather. We were waiting to be dismissed to go to lunch when the principal came on the PA system to tell us what had happened. At first I thought he was just announcing the launch, then I heard the hesitancy in his voice when he started to say, “Just over a minute into the launch…” and I knew something had happened. The principal asked for a moment of silence. As I headed down the hall to lunch afterward, I passed some other kids who were saying, “It’s gotta be the Russians…” One bit of trivia that I think many of you probably know is that they were considering sending Big Bird up on the Challenger. That’s right…they were considering sending Carroll Spinney up in costume and making a storyline out of it on Sesame Street and everything. But ultimately, they decided that Big Bird’s size would force them to alter some of the shuttle’s safety conditions, and went with the teacher-in-space program, choosing Christa McAuliffe. Can you imagine what THAT would have been like? Either Sesame Street would have had to deal with the horrific death of their most iconic character–a six-year-old CHILD in canon, unlike the elderly Mr. Hooper whose actor also had passed–or recast the iconic Carroll Spinney (and recast Oscar as well) and find some way to explain why Big Bird wasn’t on the shuttle after all. But I’ve just watched [a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmdzptbykzI) which points out how Christa McAuliffe’s presence on the flight was one of the factors that made them push for the Jan. 28th launch even though there were concerns about the temperature affecting the O-rings. (Either Reagan wanted it to coincide with the State of the Union address so he could point out McAuliffe’s presence as the first teacher/civilian in space and possibly contact her live during the address, or they needed the date in place so McAuliffe could go with the stunt of teaching one of her classroom lessons from space.) This video speculates that had it been Big Bird instead of McAuliffe, they wouldn’t have felt the need to rush it and to launch on that date, and might have delayed it until more favorable conditions were in place. (Besides, the PR nightmare would have been even greater had they risked the life of a beloved children’s icon, so they might have taken that into account as well.) Instead of “Big Bird might have been killed on the Challenger,” it could very well have been a matter of “Big Bird might have SAVED the Challenger”! ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/31 "2026-02-01T04:23:53Z")
I was between classes in 9th grade, and a guy in the hallway heard the news on his Walkman and told us. Walkmans weren’t allowed in school: the guy was not only a rule-breaker but also the type who might think that was a funny prank, so no one believed him. Then I got to biology class, and after a few minutes the principal made an announcement. I didn’t see the video until I got home from school that day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/32 "2026-02-01T22:04:07Z")
I didn’t hear about it until after I got home. My first thought was denial, that maybe they had escaped somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/33 "2026-06-26T20:30:08Z")
I had just gotten home after working the night shift at UPS in San Francisco (a great job loading their semi trucks). I was asleep and my wife woke me up and told me about it, but I was too tired to get up. When I finally woke up, man oh man what a tragic disaster. How many of us remember the line, “Challenger, go at throttle up”? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/34 "2026-06-26T21:15:16Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > NASA had rules about launching in low temperatures because the O-ring problem was known. On a couple of earlier occasions when the temp was slightly below the limit they decided to launch anyway on the thinking that it was close enough. When nothing bad seemed to happen (which turned out not to be true) it emboldened them to continue launching at low temperatures. Hence, they made it normal to break their own rule. Reminds me of this old Calvin & Hobbes strip: _“How do they know the load limit on bridges, Dad?”_ **“They drive bigger and bigger trucks over the bridge until it breaks. Then they weigh the last truck and rebuild the bridge.”** That’s how an idiot would build a bridge, of course. Unbelievable that this same mindset would be used in the design and operation of multi-million dollar spacecraft. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/35 "2026-06-26T21:54:51Z")
I was in college - I passed the big TV tuned to CNN/CSPAN in the student union, and there was the news. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/36 "2026-06-26T22:02:37Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Reminds me of this old Calvin & Hobbes strip: > > _“How do they know the load limit on bridges, Dad?”_ See post #18 above for the actual cartoon. * * * * * * I was at work and a bunch of us stood around a TV and watched-- so exciting, until --! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/37 "2026-06-26T22:45:58Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > See post #18 above for the actual cartoon. By me-should have known (Mr. Absent-Minded)… ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/38 "2026-06-26T23:15:51Z")
Just this week I had reason to post this quote from Allan J. McDonald, one of the engineers at Morton-Thiokol who tried to stop the launch “If anything happens to this launch, I wouldn’t want to be the person that has to stand in front of a board of inquiry to explain why we launched.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan\_J.\_McDonald](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_J.%5C_McDonald) The quote I can no longer find online is from the widow of one of the astronauts. She’s sued for wrongful death, and got a settlement. I distinctly remember the Washington Post at the time quoting her as saying “Nobody went to jail. Nobody got fined. Nobody lost their job.” While those details fade, the phrase “take off your engineer hat and put on your management hat” will stick with me forever, in the worst way. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/39 "2026-06-26T23:27:36Z")
I was 19 and asleep at the time, but my mom was watching and came into my room to wake me up. I remember how surreal it all looked and how shocked we were. I had been following the story in the days before the launch and was so saddened by what occurred. Perhaps the only time I actually had some respect for Reagan was how he addressed the nation, more like someone’s grandfather might handle it, rather than a President. He impressed me that day, probably for the first and last time. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118/40 "2026-06-26T23:32:19Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > By me-should have known (Mr. Absent-Minded)… Me, too. I didn’t notice that it was by you. We’re a pair. 🤦🏽 Well, it WAS back in January. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40th-anniversary-of-the-explosion-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger/1027118.md?page=3)