Jan 28 marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion..

[Dax]

Hard to believe it has been that long. Though I am only 33, I remeber it vividly, as my school was participating in the program with the teacher on board, and I was excited to watch the launch. We ended up home from school that day due to a nasty ice storm in NJ...and I spent the day in front of the TV crying and upset. It was the first MAJOR event in my lifetime that I can say...I remember where I was...

So do you remember?


Some links...

25 years after Challenger

 

[AnnaS]

Yes, I remember. I was at the hospital staying/visiting my infant son (he was sick with bronchiolitis). I could not believe it when I saw it.

 

[lisajl]

I remember it well. My DD was almost 3 months old. I was having post partum depression, stuck in our house because we lived in Grand Rapids, MI.
We were sooooo snowed in! I just cried for days when I saw it.

 

[handinpocket]

I was in class watching the launch on TV. What I remember most poignantly is Ronald Reagan's speech and his eloquent words for an event that had no words....

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured 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 the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'

 

[NMAmy]

I was in college and just getting ready to go to work. I had the tv on with the sound turned down and I remember being so shocked and unable to make sense of what I was seeing on the television.

 

[momrek06]

I was living in Cherry Hill, NJ and I had just had a baby (Dec 30th, who is now in law school ). My other DS was 3yo and I had picked him up from nursery school, made him some lunch and turned on cartoons for him in the playroom. I made a bottle for DS 3 weeks old and sat down in our living room to feed him. I remember it was a beautiful sunny but very cold day in NJ!

I leaned over and turned on the tv and there was the Challenger just about to be launched. How awesome I thought my timing was! So I am feeding DS and watching and there it goes and I am completely thrilled! Then, then all of a sudden what happened, what happened. OMG, it was awful. I am sitting there with my new baby just crying as I just knew his was not good. DS#1 comes up from the playroom with his little dishes and sees me with the baby crying and wants to know what is wrong and I just said there was something in my eye and that mommy is fine (didn't need to tell him).

It was just so incredibly a very very sad day in America.

 

[Mermaid02]

I was in the cafeteria at my high school- Brian S. was telling everyone the Challenger blew up and we all told him he was full of you know what.... after that I don't really remember, I think they made an announcement. It was really sad, all I could think of was the interview I saw with Christa Macauliffe's little daughter saying she didn't want her Mommmy to go into space, she wanted her to stay here with her.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It just doesn't seem all that long ago.

I was in 5th grade and a bit "oblivious". I recall we were watching the shuttle launch, but I also recall that suddenly the teacher turned off the tv and then didn't say a word. I was in my own little world and got caught by an ADHD moment of distraction, so didn't see the actual explosion--hence my bewilderment.

The next thing I recall is when we went out to the busses--there was a kid who I believed was mocking b/c he was saying in a very little kid voice : Space shuttle go boom.

I recall the newspaper the next morning and just staring at those photos. I still kept expecting them to come back.

 

[bigbabyblues]

I remember. I was in 4th grade, and we were watching it on tv. The teacher turned the tv off very soon after the explosion and it was realized what had happened.

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

I remember it like it was yesterday, I was sitting in History class and they were playing the audio over the PA system and we were listening to it live. It was terrible. Fast forward a few years and my first son was born January 28, 1996.

 

[hulagirl87]

I still remember it so clearly. I was in 5th grade. It was a big deal because Christa McCauliffe was a teacher so we were all so excited about her. Then we found out what had happened. I don't think I really understood, but we all knew that something bad had happened. But I remember that we were supposed to have a girl scout meeting after school and it was canceled. My mom was one of the leaders that year and we just went right home and she turned the tv on right away and we watched the news. I can still see the "Y" of smoke after it blew up... so sad.

 

[cristit14]

I was in Spanish class. One of the classes down the hall was watching it on tv and one of the kids came in and told us.

 

[Chernabog#1fan]

I remember it well. My dad had retired from the military about 6 months prior to the explosion and moved us to Melbourne, FL. This town is very close to NASA and we always went out to watch the launches. I was standing outside my school in the 4th grade watching it. It was hard to comprehend what I was seeing at that age. Very tragic day.

 

[MomofKatie]

I was a sophomore in college- watching live on the TV in my sorority house. It was so terrible, seeing it happen on TV. Nobody went to class that afternoon- we all just sat and watched the news, stunned.

 

[ChrisFL]

I saw it with my own eyes in Orlando, I was in 3rd grade, watching outside with my classmates, then we all ran inside to watch the news footage of what we knew had happened already

 

[DisTeach1]

I remember hearing or reading something about the Challenger and Krista McAuliffe...I believe her youngest daughter was 5 or 6 when her Mom was going up in the Space Shuttle. And how she begged her Mom not to go...and her Mom reassured her. I think I saw that on Good Morning America years ago. Anyway, I always think of her daughter, who grew up without her Mom and wonder if what I heard was true, and what her daughter thinks of it now...

 

[luvmy3]

Yes, I was in 8th grade and we were watching the launch. We watched the news footage for the rest of the school day and I remember thinking that I was so glad that my teacher wasn't picked to go because she had applied.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I remember it very well, because it happened on my 13th birthday. We were watching it during my 7th grade science class. My mom also worked for NASA, so it really hit home with our family.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

I was home from school with the flu and basically melding into the couch, my dad came home for lunch(as he usually did) and said turn on the news I think we just lost the space shuttle. We lived in S. Fl and could always see the trails so when the trails split he knew something was wrong, but had to wait till he got to the house to find out since he had no radio on his motorcycle. I cried the rest of the day, but was relieved to be at home and able to watch the news all day without a teacher choosing what was ok or not(I was 15).

 

[lvloopingbag]

Yep!
I was home on college break as a freshman and watched it in my living room.......