27 years ago today: Challenger, go at throttle up

[pandamom]

I was a Freshman in college in Daytona Beach. I had just finished a flight lesson (part of our normal training air space was closed for the shuttle launch) and was walking back to my dorm when it happened. It was a horrible site -- just couldn't believe it. People were crying and in disbelief. I went and woke up my roommate and she wouldn't believe me until I turned on the TV.

[krcit]

I was a junior in high school and we were watching it live. It took us a minute to realize what had happened. So tragic

[jennyjinx3]

My DH was in Florida for his one and only trip to Disney with his family when he was 13. They had driven down to Port Canaveral to watch the shuttle launch. He says the images are forever in his mind.

[low-key]

Originally Posted by Shutterbug

What followed after those words, is still embedded in my head like it all happened yesterday.

The lady in the back on the right hand side is Akrons own Judy Resnic

[TLSnell1981]

The delays and the weather, just didn't feel right. I told DH, that I had a bad feeling. It was horrible and I will NEVER forget that feeling.

"They prepared for their journey, and waved good-bye, and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God." Ronald Reagan

[Planogirl]

I remember that I wanted to be just like Judy Resnik.

RIP, all seven great heroes.

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I was in 9th grade 3rd period language arts class. Remember it very vividly.

One of the teacher finalists was a teacher at my high school. I was actually in his class when the first launch after Challenger went up. We watched live and had a long discussion with him about it. I remember someone saying, "boy you were lucky you weren't chosen," and he responded that even though he knew what happened he would still want to have been chosen! He was so in love with the space program. It was really neat to experience it with him. Sadly he died a couple years later in an airplane crash. He is one of the big reasons I got really interested in the space shuttle and pushed to make sure I attended a launch. My wish came true on the very last launch ever, July 8th, 2011 of Atlantis.

[CandyMandy]

Originally Posted by disney1990

I was home alone with my one year old watching the launch. Years later I learned that survived the explosion, but we were helpless to do anything to save them. So very sad.

Yes, that is the element that always gets to me. Understandably, NASA and the media didn't play up the fact that the investigation concluded all the astronauts aboard were alive and conscious during their almost three minute long fall, which ended when the intact crew compartment section of Challenger hit the water at around 200mph. That exposed the astronauts to a braking force of 200 times normal gravity.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3078062/ns...rnity-descent/

"At first, many people watching the blast, and others in mission control, believed the astronauts had died instantly — a blessing in its own right.

But they were wrong.

NASA’s intensive, meticulous studies of every facet of that explosion, comparing what happened to other blowups of aircraft and spacecraft, and the knowledge of the forces of the blast and the excellent shape and construction of the crew cabin, finally led some investigators to a mind-numbing conclusion.

They were alive all the way down."

[Robbi]

My husband and I had just moved to a new house in the same town. I went to the Chinese restaurant to pick up food to surprise our old neighbors. When I walked into their house, it was just being announced.

[portia9]

27 years! So sad.

[Maggie Lizer]

I was in 6th grade, and had lunch right before science class, in which we were going to watch the coverage of the launch (we were in south Florida, and NASA activities always warranted a day of TV in science class). I remember all of us shuffling into class, not knowing what was going on when we saw the cloud on the TV because the news hadn't yet hit the lunchroom when we were there. It was so weird, especially since one of our teachers had applied to be the teacher in space and made it past at least the first round and may have even been a finalist (my memory is not entirely clear).

[bigbabyblues]

I was in 4th grade, and we were watching it on tv. I remember the smoke trail and my teacher crying.

[Snoopymom]

27 years, wow.

I was working nights and going to school and extremely tired, and I remember where I was and I remember being sad, but it didn't really affect me like it would today.

Since then, I've taken my nephew when he was little to Kenedy Space museum and my ds to see the last launch in 2011, I used to watch NASA tv before direct tv got rid of it, and I watch all the specials on PBS, so I can't help to think how weird it was that I didn't think that much about it at the time it happened.

I just noticed that the flight director Jay Greene has a book out. He didn't retire until 2004, and went on to work on more launches, so it's good to know it didn't ruin him. I just can't imagine being the one who said "go".

[snapppyd]

I couldn't sleep last night, I went on YouTube and watched the news reports from both disasters. Just doesn't/didn't seem real.

[U2_rocks!]

I was equivalent of a senior in high school (Upper 6th) and we were all watching the launch on TV in the school auditorium. Shocking!