It isn’t mundane or pointless, but there isn’t anywhere else to put it.
Jan. 28, 1986
Dick Scobee
Michael Smith
Judith Resnik
Ellison Onizuka
Greg Jarvis
Ronald McNair
Christa McAuliffe
Lest We Forget.
Judy Resnick came from my town. One of the teachers at my elementary school was her cousin and arranged a conference call for us with her. This was many years ago, of course, but I remember thinking how weird it was that someone who was cool enough to go into spcae was just a regular person.
–Cliffy
Let the exploration of space not suffer for the loss of those who dared risk their lives in the name of Discovery … for that is how they came to be where they were.
Cursed be those who sacrifice lives in the name of saving a few bucks for corporate profit.
Good Lord.
Almost 20 years ago???
RIP
Holy Saint Leibowitz, protect those who explore space.
For people my age, this was our first real “where were you when…” moment.
I was walking to my 9th grade biology class when a guy in the hall, who had an FM radio Walkman, said he’d just heard that the space shuttle had exploded. He was kind of a troublemaker and his credibility was shaky at best, and I remember that our immediate reaction was “Dude, that’s not funny.” Then, after the bell rang, the principal came over the PA and made the announcement. When I got home from school that day I watched the footage.
I was 14 years old, and it was the saddest I’d been in a long time. 
I was sitting in my second grade class, and they announced it over the public address system in all the classes. I don’t remember if I cried, but I know my teacher did, and I WAS extremely sad when I found out. I remember what a big deal it was then, especially because Christa McAuliffe was the “Teacher In Space,” a regular teacher selected to go on the mission. The news media made the biggest deal out of her leading up to the disaster and especially following it, but she made the Challenger hit really close to home for me. My parents were both teachers, and my father had actually applied to be the teacher who went to space! I don’t think he ever took it overly seriously or expected to be chosen, but I know he submitted his name at one point to whoever made the selection.
It’s been NINETEEN YEARS?!?!?!?!
I remember when that happened! I was out of school that day because it had snowed. Me and my friend came in from playing to watch the shuttle launch. When it blew up, we didn’t realize something had gone wrong, we thought it was supposed to do that.
Nineteen years. Oy. I’m old!
"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
-Ronald Reagan
We had the TV on in my high school chemistry class. We were all excited to not be doing chemistry and instead watch the Space Shuttle Challenger take off. It was so very exicting becuase Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher in space and all the classrooms had their TVs on.
We all just sat and stared. Then there was some crying and some swearing, but mostly stunned silence. It brings me to tears every time I think of it. We were all so excited and hopeful…and then tragedy.
Cliffy
And since you mentioned Judy Resnick, people seem to forget she was the second American woman in space. (Yes, she had made at least one flight prior to the Challenger).
I was 10 years old, and my school was watching the shuttle launch on a big TV in the gym. When the Challenger exploded, we were all stunned. I don’t think anybody talked or moved for at least a minute. Then the teachers sent us back to our classrooms and tried to continue on with the day’s lessons as best they could. (As you can imagine, they weren’t very successful.) Like Misnomer said, it was my first “where were you when…” moment.
I was in the lunchline at high school, about 10 students back, waiting for my wonderful meal of a cafeteria greasebuger, the word filtered back thru the line that the Challenger had exploded, me being the skeptic i was, i thought it was a rather unfunny joke, and proceeded to choke down lunch
when i went to my next class (Spanish 1) there was a TV and VCR in class, Spanish class never used video…
…it wasn’t a joke, the rest of the day i can’t remember, it just felt hazy and unreal…
strangely enough, the Farscape episode “Kansas” features footage of the disaster, the first time i saw that episode, i flashed right back to that day of high school…
My grandchildren go to Dick Scobee Elementary School.
I got up early before classes to watch the launch. Total shock. One of my professors saw me sitting in a hallway, and told me to go home. Said I wasn’t going to be any use to anybody for awhile, and to just go home.
The dream must never die.
To those who dare, the stars.
I was home from school because the pipes had frozen. I slept in, so when I turned on the TV it had already happened.
As you might imagine, it was pretty awful in school the next couple days – most all my teachers had known Resnick.
–Cliffy
I was in 7th Grade, Chorus class to be exact. We were practicing for some contest, and the room had a HUGE picture window. Our Chorus teacher was an ordained minister, and when he saw the smoke plumes, he said “The Shuttle with the Teacher has taken off, let’s all say a prayer for their safe return.” Given this was Central FL in the 80s, this was no big deal. We had our moment of silence and continued practicing.
I made the mistake of looking out the picture window. I noticed that the smoke plumes didn’t look right (OK, I was a geek). However, I didn’t dare say anything and risk being laughed at. The bell rang and I headed toward my locker and my next class, which was being an assistant in the Media Center.
As I was walking toward the locker, I notice my Mom, who was a parent volunteer, rolling the school’s “BIG TV” to the Principal’s Office. I said, “Hmm, that’s weird,” but I continued walking. I get to my locker and someone said “Hey, did you hear? Challenger exploded!” In an effort to quell my fears, I said “Yeah, right!” and headed to the Media Center.
I walked in to find EVERY TV THE SCHOOL HAD on in the Media Center. I dropped my books in the nearest table and was glued to the TV set for the rest of the day. I think Mom may have taken me home early; I don’t remember. Our Media Specialist’s son had been either in the top 3 or top 5, so it really hit us hard.
The next day in Chorus we didn’t practice. Mr. Nail (yes, that was his name, may he RIP) said that we needed to take the day and think about and pray for the families. He stayed in his office all period long. We filed music and did other mundane tasks to keep from thinking about it.
Thanks Scruloose for the quote. Of all of Reagan’s sound bytes, that’s my favorite.
19 years? Hardly seems possible…
We’re also coming up on the second anniversary of the Columbia disaster as well.
The thing I remember most about the Challenger disaster is that no one in particular at my high school ever said that the shuttle had exploded. As I walked into chemistry class after lunch, all of us just said, “The space shuttle blew up.” We spent part of the class trying to listen to the news on the teacher’s radio, but couldn’t hear much of anything. As best I can recall, the rest of the day went like any other day at school. I raced home to watch the news to see the footage of the explosion.
One of the lesser known losses because of the Challenger disaster, is that Ron McNair was a musician and had brought his saxophone with him on the shuttle. The plan was for him to play a piece in space, which Jean-Micheal Jarre was going to use on his Rendovous album. Jarre dedicated the album to McNair and detailed this in the liner notes.
I was in 7th Grade, Chorus class to be exact. We were practicing for some contest, and the room had a HUGE picture window. Our Chorus teacher was an ordained minister, and when he saw the smoke plumes, he said “The Shuttle with the Teacher has taken off, let’s all say a prayer for their safe return.” Given this was Central FL in the 80s, this was no big deal. We had our moment of silence and continued practicing.
I made the mistake of looking out the picture window. I noticed that the smoke plumes didn’t look right (OK, I was a geek). However, I didn’t dare say anything and risk being laughed at. The bell rang and I headed toward my locker and my next class, which was being an assistant in the Media Center.
As I was walking toward the locker, I notice my Mom, who was a parent volunteer, rolling the school’s “BIG TV” to the Principal’s Office. I said, “Hmm, that’s weird,” but I continued walking. I get to my locker and someone said “Hey, did you hear? Challenger exploded!” In an effort to quell my fears, I said “Yeah, right!” and headed to the Media Center.
I walked in to find EVERY TV THE SCHOOL HAD on in the Media Center. I dropped my books in the nearest table and was glued to the TV set for the rest of the day. I think Mom may have taken me home early; I don’t remember. Our Media Specialist’s son had been either in the top 3 or top 5, so it really hit us hard.
The next day in Chorus we didn’t practice. Mr. Nail (yes, that was his name, may he RIP) said that we needed to take the day and think about and pray for the families. He stayed in his office all period long. We filed music and did other mundane tasks to keep from thinking about it.
Thanks Scruloose for the quote. Of all of Reagan’s sound bytes, that’s my favorite.
19 years? Hardly seems possible…
I was in 1st grade. Mrs. Galbrath (Yes, that was her real name. No, none of the kids could prounounce it correctly) told us as we were sitting in our desks after lunch (missing recess because the Powers That Be deemed it too cold to have recess outside). She turned on the TV so we could watch some of the footage. I was supposed to be working on some make-up homework, but I don’t think it ever got done.
When Colombia went, I heard about it on my friend’s TV through a hungover haze. I don’t recall doing much else that day either.
Godspeed to all the explorers of the human race.