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Where were you in 1986?


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...the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff.

 

Rest In Peace...

Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander

Michael J. Smith – Pilot

Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 1

Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 2

Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3

Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 1

Gregory B. Jarvis – Payload Specialist 2

 

:FlagAm:

 

I was coming out of morning class at West Point when somebody told me. Went to the dayroom where we were all glued to the TV. During lunch the First Captain led us in a moment for the crew.

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I had just started my new career in Computer Programming at a bank in White Plains, NY.

 

One of the guys that I had been hanging out with came back after lunch and said that the space shuttle had blown up.

 

You're kidding, I said

 

But I could see he was not because he had tears in his eyes.

 

 

Waimea

 

:FlagAm:/>

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I was at work that day (Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, GA). Someone came by our office to tell us what happened. You could have heard a pin drop.

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Edit.....Oops. Wrong topic.

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I was watching on TV in my classroom with all my students.

Supposed to be a banner day -- first teacher in space.

NASA had about 20 cameras trained on the shuttle & made a video about the investigation of the disaster.

One of the cameras showed the O-ring to be leaking on the launchpad.

For years after that, I did a shuttle unit using a ton of NASA-produced materials and that video.

--Dawg

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I was in Palmdale, Ca. working on the B2 Bomber. Pretty sad day :(/> as I had worked on the Challenger in Downey & Palmdale, Ca. The real unfortunate thing is that Rockwell took the blame, but it really was all NASA's fault............but thats another story :angry:/>

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I was the Regional Sales Manager for a cruise line and I was in Phoenix, Arizona calling on some key accounts. There was also a large industry trade show that night I had to attend. Once we all heard the news (I was sitting in a travel agency at the time) everything stopped. I spent the rest of the day at that agency watching the coverage on TV before going to the trade show. The trade show was completely devoid of people.

 

Sad day indeed.

 

God bless those heroes. :FlagAm:

 

 

EC

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I was working in Delaware. Driving out for a meeting when I heard the news. Pulled to side of road and sat stunned for several minutes. It was a horrible meeting I sat through after that.

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Sitting in class, Snider High School, senior year. Had just talked to the Navy recruiter that morning. We had an announcment and a moment of silence.

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I was a second grader, sitting in one classroom with all the other second graders in the building, eyes glued to the small-screened but still huge TV sitting atop the AV cart. I remember seeing the explosion, then being ushered back to class-our teachers didn't know how to handle it. It wasn't until I got to a Cub Scout meeting after school that an adult, our Den Mother, finally talked to us about what had happened.

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I was wiring a bank in Tampa, Florida. We all went up on the roof to watch the launch. We were too far away to hear any sound but when the big puff of smoke appeared where the shuttle/fuel tank used to be and the booster rockets made the lazy circles........I knew what had happened. One of the guys had never watched a launch before and remarked that "That's really cool". I told him that it wasn't cool and that it had just blown up. We watched the smoke for a few more minutes in disbelief, then we went back down to listen to the radio announce and confirm what we'd just witnessed.

 

I'll never forget what I saw that day.

 

CS

 

The Apollo 1 disaster anniversary was yesterday and the Columbia disaster anniversary is Friday.

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Was a senior in Drafting class - 1st Period - Newport Harbor High School - PA announcement and then we had a moment of silence...Needless to say many of us students were saddened. Especially science guys like myself.

Indeed - may they RIP. They are heros forever...

 

GG ~ :FlagAm:/>

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Was involved in a homicide interrogation and had left the room for the guy to think things over. Was walking by a TV set in another room and was watching the blast off. Suddenly I thought, that don't look right!

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I was watching on TV in my classroom with all my students.

Supposed to be a banner day -- first teacher in space.

NASA had about 20 cameras trained on the shuttle & made a video about the investigation of the disaster.

One of the cameras showed the O-ring to be leaking on the launchpad.

For years after that, I did a shuttle unit using a ton of NASA-produced materials and that video.

--Dawg

My wife had had a TV set moved into her room and had 26 3rd graders glued to the screen when the shuttle blew.

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My wife had had a TV set moved into her room and had 26 3rd graders glued to the screen when the shuttle blew.

 

What a terrible position to be in. How do you tell 3rd graders that they just watched 7 people die on live TV, including the first Teacher in Space? I would not have wanted to be in her shoes for any amount of money.

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It was my day off from the Anaheim Post Office. I was watching it LIVE on TV. Ended up out in the middle of the Street talking to all the neighbors who couldn't believe it either. SAD Day.

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Instructing at the Police Academy in Tallahassee. Saw it on tv during a class break.

Bad day. A friend of mine watched it in his parking lot at work a ways down the coast from the Cape. A big space program buff like me, he knew instantly what happened. His co workers didn't believe him till they went back in to the office and saw the replays on tv.

I had been to the Cape to watch launches before but I never went again.

May they rest in peace.

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My former manager worked on the shuttle program. She had won an award from NASA for her support of the program and was in the tower watching the launch live when it happened...........

 

May they rest in peace.

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I didn't hear about it til later in the day when I showed up for work at Burger King. Some of the guys that worked in the back were joking around about it, but I didn't know what had happened at first so I wasn't paying much attention. Then one of the other counter girls heard them and burst into tears, I asked her what was wrong and she told me. So I went and got the manager out of the office and told him that I'd walk out if he didn't tell the guys in the kitchen to shut up, and pronto!

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I worked with total scumbags..... :angry:

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Can't rightly say.

 

 

All I remember was after the explosion, a Staff Sargent put his hand on my shoulder and said..."Get a grip.....we just got handed a mission."

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