Happened 30 years ago today.

 

My parents had the JFK assasination and the moon landing, but for me, this was my first "where were you" moment. Remember it as if it happened yesterday. Senior year of high school, in the library for study hall, and remember the kid who walked by and told us, thinking he was joking. Spent the rest of the period huddled around the tv watching replay after replay.

 

Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Devastated the Nation 30 Years Ago - NBC News

Senior in high school. I was standing in my best friend's granny's kitchen. I think my bestie and I had skipped school that morning. LOL

I had graduated from NKU in May '85 and had a job selling something called "personal computers" at a retail location. I was off that day and slept in. Woke up and my dad told me about it. We then watched it over and over on the news the rest of the day.

Was in 2nd grade. Our teacher was informed, and she turned the TV on. Some other classes had been watching it live because Christa McAuliffe was on board.

3rd grade Reading class. We had done Weekly Readers, a set of worksheets on current events published by Scholastic, for the entire month. We had the TV on watching a teacher go into space.

 

Needless to say we only watched it once, and the teacher panicked with a room full of crying 8 year olds.

4th grade...we came back to class early from gym at Western Hills Elementary to watch it in Mrs. Wilson's class. Wasn't sure what exactly happened, but it didn't feel right. When we saw Mrs. Wilson crying...our fears were realized. We spent most of the remainder of the day watching news coverage and talking about it.

Was in 2nd grade. Our teacher was informed, and she turned the TV on. Some other classes had been watching it live because Christa McAuliffe was on board.

 

 

were you still at Western then?

were you still at Western then?

 

Yes.

This cat predicted the disaster 6 months ahead of time. He was an engineer who worked for the company that manufactured the solid rocket boosters.

 

Letters of Note: "The result would be a catastrophe..."

Yes.

 

I was 2 doors down from you.

I was 2 doors down from you.

 

Yep.

This cat predicted the disaster 6 months ahead of time. He was an engineer who worked for the company that manufactured the solid rocket boosters.

 

Letters of Note: "The result would be a catastrophe..."

 

Man, I'd never heard that before.

Watching some morning game show with one of my house roommates at UK before heading out to a midday class.

Did not make it to class, watched coverage for hours.

 

Chuck Woolery was the game show host, but cannot remember which show. Can visualize us sitting there as clear as day tho.

This cat predicted the disaster 6 months ahead of time. He was an engineer who worked for the company that manufactured the solid rocket boosters.

 

Letters of Note: "The result would be a catastrophe..."

 

Not just that either .... the meeting the night before with Roger Boisjoly, Arnie Thompson and others from Morton Thiokol had with NASA. The meeting starts out with Morton Thiokol recommending no launch ... then the NASA morons who state their displeasure with the recommendation ... then the Morton Thiokol management team having an "off conference" meeting .. where they give in to the pressure of NASA with their "Management Decision".

 

It amazes me that NASA was not disbanded ... they were and still are a free wheeling, crap shoot organization that was/is more interested in their own agenda as opposed to the human beings they were sending to space.

 

Roger Boisjoly is a hero to many (including me). He refused to be silenced ... and did everything he could to force Morton Thiokol and NASA to do the right thing. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Boisjoly ... great man ... great engineer. You could still tell ... 20 years later .. that the Challenger wore on his mind .. as did Columbia 14 years later.

 

If anyone has a few minutes ... do some investigation into the Challenger accident ... very hard details to swallow (for instance .. the crew survived the incident and didn't die until the cockpit crashed into the water). Lots of other unethical practices that are downright scary and eye opening.

Sad day. Unlike some others here, I was already old. I'll never forget this image.