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19 yrs ago today, the Challenger Exploded

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I was a student at tOSU then. I remember coming back to our room at Haverfield, and my roommates were glued to the TV. It had just happened minutes earlier.
 
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25th Anniversary...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/challenger_25th_anniversary_me.html

Challenger 25th anniversary: Memories of the day
By Melissa Bell

challenger.JPG

This 1986 photo shows the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, from left, Ellison Onizuka, Mike Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Greg Jarvis, Ron McNair and Judy Resnick. (AP Photo/NASA)

On a bright blue morning in Florida in 1986, the Challenger shuttle launched into space. Twenty-eight years had passed since NASA had first formed. Shuttle flights had become routine. What set this one apart was the diversity of the crew and the addition of the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. The shuttle took off buoyed by hope and pride, watched by a nation enamored with the great U.S. space program and by schoolchildren filling classrooms early in the morning.

Seventy-three seconds later, the shuttle disappeared into an orange and white cloud, and the nation stood in shock and disbelief.

President Ronald Reagan, in a moving broadcast to the nation that afternoon, paraphrased a sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee, a young American airman killed in World War II saying the crew "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."

Read The Post's story, "The horror dawned slowly," from January 28, 1986 here.
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I was home from school sick that day, watching from the couch. I remember pulling the blanket around me and sitting there in horror watching the coverage all afternoon, wishing someone would get home because the house felt so empty and quiet. Very surreal.
 
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In Memory Of The Space Shuttle Challenger - 27th Anniversary

On January 28th, 1986, seven brave Americans lost their lives in pursuit of exploration and discovery aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Schoolchildren across the nation watched the tragedy live on television. In a time of crisis, we look to our leaders to set the tone and give us guidance. President Reagan did just that.

In one of his most famous addresses, President Reagan gave what Clinton speechwriter Michael Waldman calls a "pitch perfect eulogy." The President spoke directly to the nation, the families of the deceased, schoolchildren, and the dedicated team at NASA. In the face of fear and trepidation, he promised that we would not be discouraged and that we would continue to explore space.
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow"]Challenger: President Reagan's Challenger Disaster Speech - 1/28/86 - YouTube[/ame]
 
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The first I heard of the explosion was while waiting in the lunch line (freshman in HS). A friend came up and said "did you hear about the shuttle blowing up?". I thought it was the opening to some joke because all week everyone had been telling lame Christa McAuliffe jokes that all revolved around sending up a teacher being a bad idea.

After lunch every class had TVs on and we watched the news coverage for the rest of the day. One of the Dayton stations had a crew in the class of the teacher from Centerville who had been a finalist and seeing the expression on his face while they were filming him watching the launch live really stuck with me.

Mike80;2297536; said:
Yep - we watched it on TV and it freaked me out a bit......
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The Challenger or the President's speech?
 
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Deety;1865215; said:
I was home from school sick that day, watching from the couch. I remember pulling the blanket around me and sitting there in horror watching the coverage all afternoon, wishing someone would get home because the house felt so empty and quiet. Very surreal.
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I was also home sick that day. I was in the 4th grade. I remember being bummed that I wasn't going to school because we were going to have an assembly as there was going to be a retired astronaut at the school that day. I tried to stay awake for the launch, but I was very ill, and eventually just passed out. I remember my mom waking me up and telling me that I needed to go out and watch what was going on because it was important. I still have the image of the explosion burned into my memory. I don't think that I remember an event that affected the country like that until 9/11 which, incidentally, I also slept through.
 
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scooter1369;137711; said:
I watched it live during lunch From Silver Sands Junior High in Port Orange, FL. I was standing outside watching it go up and then we saw the fork in the trail. We ran in and told Mr. Tipton (shop teacher) that the shuttle did something wierd. He turned on the TV and we watched the coverage for the next two hours.

I remember it like it was yesterday.
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Still remember it like it was yesterday.
 
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