Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy... 25 Years Ago Today

[ConcordCowboy]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-10.ss_full.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-14.ss_full.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-07.ss_full.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-25.ss_full.jpg

[BrAinPaiNt]

We were just talking about this at work today.

Asking what we were doing the day we saw it on the news.

A few of us were in HS and it happened to be a day off due to a snow storm. Funny how people remember that from 25 years ago, that we had a day off from school due to snow.

Anyway. That was crazy seeing that on the news. Remember calling some friends and telling them that the shuttle blew up and they thought I was joking so I told them to turn on the news.

[Aikmaniac]

Remember it like it was yesterday.

I was in fourth grade. It was a very small private school. Probably 20 in my class. The entire student body (about 250) was in chapel singing hymnals when our guidance counselor interrupted with this devastating news.

When I got home that early afternoon, I watched Dan Rather for hours upon hours with my dad as he interviewed countless space experts as to figure out what happened.

Sad day.

[heavyg]

I was in HS. We were actually watching it on TV in science class.

[jimnabby]

Wow, I feel old. I was a freshman in college. I walked into the student center that morning, saw an acquaintance, asked him "What's up?", and he said, "Well, the space shuttle blew up." I still remember standing there trying to figure out if he was serious or not.

[Sam I Am]

I was in junior high (7th grade I believe) watching it in home room.

Those are great pictures btw.

[theebs]

I was in elementary school and we all watched it in the gym. One of the astronauts was from a local town, Mohawk. So it was a big deal.

[peplaw06]

I remember the news... But I was in Kindergarten so I don't really remember the day. Probably the only reason I do remember it was because it was 3 days before my 6th birthday.

[ConcordCowboy]

I was on my way to College for the first class of the day.

[ConcordCowboy]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-16.ss_full.jpg

Flying fragments

This picture, released by the presidential commission that investigated the Challenger tragedy, shows fragments of the orbiter flying away from the explosion on Jan. 28, 1986, 78 seconds after liftoff. The top arrow shows the orbiter's left wing. The center arrow shows the orbiter's main engine; and the bottom arrow shows the orbiter's forward fuselage. Investigators suggested that some of Challenger's crew members may have survived the explosion itself but died in the fall down to Earth.

[ConcordCowboy]

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr145/bajamarta/challenger.jpg

[ConcordCowboy]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-12.ss_full.jpg


Watching the launch

Classmates of the son of America's first teacher-astronaut cheer as the space shuttle Challenger lifts skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Jan. 28, 1986. Their delight turned to horror as the shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight. The boy in the white hat and glasses at center is Peter Billingsley, the star of "A Christmas Story" and a spokesman for the young astronaut program.

[Sam I Am]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-12.ss_full.jpg


Watching the launch

Classmates of the son of America's first teacher-astronaut cheer as the space shuttle Challenger lifts skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Jan. 28, 1986. Their delight turned to horror as the shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight. The boy in the white hat and glasses at center is Peter Billingsley, the star of "A Christmas Story" and a spokesman for the young astronaut program.

Ha! Before I read your note about Peter Billingsley being in the picture, I was going to say, "I think that kid in the middle shot his eye out one Christmas!" :laugh2:

[joseephuss]

And in 4 days it will be the 8th year anniversary of the Columbia tragedy. Not a good stretch of days for NASA. I still cringe when I watch a video of the Challenger launch.

[big dog cowboy]

Wow 25 years already. Like everyone else I remember that day very well. I was at work when the news broke over the radio. Not being able to see what happened until I got home was pure torture. Finally be able to see what happened several hours later I was still :eek: when I saw the replay. Sad day indeed. Thanks for posting the pics.

[Faerluna]

I was in high school and we were all in the auditorium watching it on the big projection screen. We were all in shock.

[Doomsday101]

I was heading to a job interview that day. Got half way there and heard the report on the radio and turned around and went home.

[Hostile]

I was in a camera shop. A roll of .35 mm film got stuck in my camera and I had to take it to them to fix. The shop owner and I stood in awe, cried together, and watched the footage for about an hour and a half. He didn't charge me for fixing my camera.

[Yeagermeister]

I was in HS and surprisingly we had a snow day also. I just stood in front of the TV with my jaw on the ground not believing what I was seeing.

[Doomsday101]

I still have the full day news cast on VHS when I got home I popped in a tape and recorded the sad event

[Joe Realist]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-10.ss_full.jpg (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-10.ss_full.jpg)

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-14.ss_full.jpg (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-14.ss_full.jpg)

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-07.ss_full.jpg (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-07.ss_full.jpg)

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-25.ss_full.jpg (http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-25.ss_full.jpg)


I remember exactly where I was. I could not fathom it at time.

[ConcordCowboy]

http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-29.grid-9x2.jpg

Washed ashore

Some pieces of the shuttle Challenger did not surface until long after the explosion.

A tractor carries one of the shuttle's elevons after it washed ashore on Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Dec. 17, 1996 ... almost 11 years after the loss of Challenger and its crew.

[Yeagermeister]

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/ss-110120-challenger-lookback/ss-110120-challenger-lookback-16.ss_full.jpg

Flying fragments

This picture, released by the presidential commission that investigated the Challenger tragedy, shows fragments of the orbiter flying away from the explosion on Jan. 28, 1986, 78 seconds after liftoff. The top arrow shows the orbiter's left wing. The center arrow shows the orbiter's main engine; and the bottom arrow shows the orbiter's forward fuselage. Investigators suggested that some of Challenger's crew members may have survived the explosion itself but died in the fall down to Earth.

I've heard some of them survived the explosion but were killed when they hit the water. :(

[arglebargle]

I was at work, and someone hauled in a portable TV and everyone watched, horrified. Not much got done that day.

The Challenger Report was pretty sad reading as to exactly how the decision making process facilitated the accident. NASA had been going downhill, and had been seriously cooking their numbers.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/table-of-contents.html

[ConcordCowboy]

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1791/52325304.jpg

Challenger Wing

A 9'7' x 16' segment of the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger's right wing is unloaded at the NASA Logistics Facility, 18th April 1986. It was located and recovered by Navy divers from the rescue and salvage ship USS Opportune, about 12 nautical miles northeast of Cape Canaveral in 70 feet of water.

[5Stars]

I was working in Columbus, OH, and was on lunch break at a gas station getting fuel for my car. When I went inside to pay, that's when the news broke the shuttle had blown up. It was on a TV in the gas station.

I went to a pay phone (yeah they had them back then), and called in for leave the rest of the day then went to a pub where all the people were just glued to the TV watching the news of this horrible event. I can remember it like it was yesterday.

[ConcordCowboy]

I've heard some of them survived the explosion but were killed when they hit the water. :(


7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster


Myth #3: The crew died instantly

The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 feet before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then.

What's less clear is whether they were conscious. If the cabin depressurized (as seems likely), the crew would have had difficulty breathing. In the words of the final report by fellow astronauts, the crew “possibly but not certainly lost consciousness,” even though a few of the emergency air bottles (designed for escape from a smoking vehicle on the ground) had been activated.

The cabin hit the water at a speed greater than 200 mph, resulting in a force of about 200 G’s — crushing the structure and destroying everything inside. If the crew did lose consciousness (and the cabin may have been sufficiently intact to hold enough air long enough to prevent this), it’s unknown if they would have regained it as the air thickened during the last seconds of the fall. Official NASA commemorations of “Challenger’s 73-second flight” subtly deflect attention from what was happened in the almost three minutes of flight (and life) remaining AFTER the breakup.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_science-space/

[zrinkill]

I was in 7th grade.

So sad.

[peplaw06]

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1791/52325304.jpg (http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1791/52325304.jpg)

Challenger Wing

A 9'7' x 16' segment of the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger's right wing is unloaded at the NASA Logistics Facility, 18th April 1986. It was located and recovered by Navy divers from the rescue and salvage ship USS Opportune, about 12 nautical miles northeast of Cape Canaveral in 70 feet of water.Chilling picture Concord... Thanks for the info/pics you've provided in this thread.

[ConcordCowboy]

Chilling picture Concord... Thanks for the info/pics you've provided in this thread.


No problem...I've always been fascinated by things like this.

[burmafrd]

NASA got over confident and arrogant. I work with them - and they are still arrogant and they no longer have any reason to be. Back then you could at least say they had reason.

[Aikmaniac]

NASA got over confident and arrogant. I work with them - and they are still arrogant and they no longer have any reason to be. Back then you could at least say they had reason.

Why does it seem that the space program is in total reverse?

I know, since you work there, you've heard this question may times: How can we be so far from getting back to the moon when we were there forty years ago?

[Sam I Am]

Why does it seem that the space program is in total reverse?

I know, since you work there, you've heard this question may times: How can we be so far from getting back to the moon when we were there forty years ago?

Money. JFK pretty much wrote a blank check to beat the Russians to the moon. That isn't quite the case these days.

[ScipioCowboy]

gEjXjfxoNXM

[VietCowboy]

I know exactly where I was too. a 30 months old fetus in my mom's belly.

[Yeagermeister]

I know exactly where I was too. a 30 months old fetus in my mom's belly.

Wow you were in the womb a long time :laugh2:

[Faerluna]

Wow you were in the womb a long time :laugh2:

Never was a woman so happy to go into labor!

:laugh2:

[Yeagermeister]

Never was a woman so happy to go into labor!

:laugh2:

Ya think :laugh2:

[kristie]

i was in the 3rd grade at an elementry school at elmendorf air force base in anchorage, alaska when it happened. there was a substitute teacher in my classroom that day, & she just had a very sad look on her face when she found out what had happened. it was like she had lost a comrade that day. all my classmates were sad too, even me. even today, watching that launch is just so heartbreaking.:(