The Challenger 01/28/86

[Mermaid02]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow


Fantastic speech.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I can't believe it's been 25 years. I still remember every detail as if it were yesterday.

I was in 3rd grade, and our school had a very big Young Astronauts program that went from 3rd all the way to High School. All of the 3rd-5th graders who were in the program were pulled from class to watch, especially with Christa McAuliffe being a teacher.

I remember just standing there, even at that age, unable to move, trying to comprehend what was going on. I still get chills when I see the footage.

I'm very sad to see the Shuttle program ending, and I'm even more sad at the cuts that have been made at NASA that are going to vastly inhibit our advancement here in the United States. At one time we, as a nation, had a clear cut vision for exploration into the Universe, now that dream seems to be lost.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I don't remember watching the tragedy, but I do remember seeing in on the news in the evening. My mom was a US history teacher, and even though I was young, she felt it necessary to talk to me (and my older brother) about it.

Bless those guys and their families.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

I was sick with strep throat watching the Price is Right. My Mom was on the phone and thought I changed the channel.

Prayers with the families.

 

[FINFAN]

I remember it well, it was DH 25th Bday ( making today his 50th!) We could not shake the tragedy for days...my office had a small tv and one of the sales guys had turned it on to watch, we were all in disbelief, not even comprehending that they all perished like that. You kept watching waiting for the parachute.

 

[pyrxtc]

I watched this live in 4th grade. they brought TV's into the classroom. I remember how crazy it was.

 

[golfgal]

I came back from class (in college) and saw it on the news. It was shocking. I got to see the lift off of the next flight they had with George "Pinky" Nelson, an astronaut from MN that flew on the second shuttle after the Challenger accident. We also had Christa McAuliffe's back-up come and talk to a class I was taking in college a year or so after the accident.

 

[HM]

I was working at Ivey's Dept Store. I had scheduled my lunch/dinner hour so that I could watch on the lounge TV.

 

[dakcp2001]

I watched this live in 4th grade. they brought TV's into the classroom. I remember how crazy it was.

Me too! In my 4th grade brain I was so confused, the teachers immediately turned the tv away from us after it blew up. Then we all had to go to the auditorium for them to talk to us about it. They even called our parents it was like a traumatic day.

I will never forget the look on my teachers face. Pure Horror.

 

[Hoodie]

THank you for posting. I still get tears when I hear the last lines of this speech. I was 12 and still vividly remember this speech.

We weren't watching the launch but we were supposed to be part of the lesson from space that Christa McAuliffe was supposed to lead. I remember teachers crying and talking together quietly as they tried to figure out what to say to us. Finally they made an announcement when I was in shop class.

This speech has stuck with me for 25 years. God Bless them and their families.

 

[Hoodie]

I can't believe it's been 25 years. I still remember every detail as if it were yesterday.

I was in 3rd grade, and our school had a very big Young Astronauts program that went from 3rd all the way to High School. All of the 3rd-5th graders who were in the program were pulled from class to watch, especially with Christa McAuliffe being a teacher.

I remember just standing there, even at that age, unable to move, trying to comprehend what was going on. I still get chills when I see the footage.

I'm very sad to see the Shuttle program ending, and I'm even more sad at the cuts that have been made at NASA that are going to vastly inhibit our advancement here in the United States. At one time we, as a nation, had a clear cut vision for exploration into the Universe, now that dream seems to be lost.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[FINFAN]

I couldn't agree more.

ditto

 

[CandyMandy]

Launch audience members reacting to the words "we have a major malfunction" as they came over the NASA mission control center audio right after the explosion. That wasn't due to heartless bureaucracy; that comment was made by the flight director in Houston, who didn't know what had happened and was simply reacting to the fact all the telemetry data had stopped coming in.

Sadly, others in the mission control center who had video feeds knew exactly what had happened - but had to continue doing their assigned jobs.

The immediate aftermath: shock

 

[Mermaid02]

THank you for posting. I still get tears when I hear the last lines of this speech. I was 12 and still vividly remember this speech.

We weren't watching the launch but we were supposed to be part of the lesson from space that Christa McAuliffe was supposed to lead. I remember teachers crying and talking together quietly as they tried to figure out what to say to us. Finally they made an announcement when I was in shop class.

This speech has stuck with me for 25 years. God Bless them and their families.

Me too. It makes my throat tighten up....

 

[Nik's Mom]

I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was a high school freshman at the time. Such a sad day.

 

[Jennasis]

I remember our teacher came running into our classroom, hysterical crying. I managed to get her to tell me what had happened and then she ran out again.

We were so shocked.

Does anyone remember when they released the alleged transcript of the shuttle crews last words?

 

[indimom]

Dh and I were talking about this before work today. I remember walking into 7th grade english class and the teacher was standing directly in front of the television. I didn't know what was going on at first, but it didn't take long. We were glued to televisions for the rest of the school day. Very sad. No one was joking or goofing off. No one.

 

[JenM]

I was in 6th grade, in my reading class. We weren't watching it on TV, but the 5th grade class down the hall was, and that teacher came into our class and told us. She wasn't discreet about it either - she just walked into the room and said simply "The shuttle exploded." Then she also told my teacher that all of the astronauts had been killed. Then she went back to her class and we were all just sitting there in shock.

The part that stuck with me was realizing that Christa McAuliffe's class wasn't going to have the pop quiz that I heard she'd been planning on the radio a few days earlier.