The article is just being nitpicky with the word "live."

A lot of people saw it on television, they just saw it with a few seconds delay.

Hard to believe it was that long ago. Of course I remember where I was, Sheppard AFB
I honestly believed we protected America back then.
/ thought I'd something more to say

This article is retarded. It points out petty things about the launch as well as blatantly misleading things. No political pressure? The human factors that increased the liklihood of the accident are very well documented. There is no doubt there was pressure to launch in untested conditions, and that the many bureaucratic faults of NASA and the contractors it worked with were to blame.

I too was home sick from school...I remember watching with my mom. She was just speechless. My dad walks in and my mom starts to cry. I realized then that something really bad had happened. I was in first grade at the time. I also recall a few months later watching "Punky Brewster" and she did a special show about the Challenger.

SHUTTLE JOKES


Q: Did you know that Christa McAuliffe was blue eyed?
A: One blew left and one blew right.


Q: What were Christa McAuliffe's last words?
A: "What's this button do?"


Q: What were Christa McAuliffe's last words to her husband?
A: "You feed the kids - I'll feed the fish."


Q: What was the Shuttle's last transmission?
A: "I said BUD LITE!"


Q: What does NASA stand for?
A1: Need Another Seven Astronauts
A2: Need Another Shuttle Also
A3: Chicken Kiev [Ed: Punchline to another joke.]


Q: Did you know why there was only one black crew member on Challenger?
A: They didn't know it was going to blow up.


Q: Did you know that NASA has a new space drink?
A: Ocean Spray - It was their second choice because they couldn't
get 7-UP.


Q: When the next shuttle launches into space, what will the senior
controller say?
A: "72, 73, 74 BOOM! - Just kidding guys!"


Q: What do Playtex tampon users and Christa McAuliffe have in common?
A: They both should have stayed on the pad.


Q: What does a sea lion, the space shuttle and Tylenol have in common?
A: They're all looking for a tight seal.


Q: How many people will fit in a Florida Volkswagen?
A: Four in the seats and seven in the ashtray.


Q: On future shuttle missions, why will one of the astronauts have to
be a naval officer?
A: So when they decide to use it as an experimental submarine, they'll
have a rated officer onboard.


Q: What do Christa McAuliffe and Donna Rice have in common.
A: They both went down on the challenger.


Q: Did you hear that they are sending up another teacher on the next
shuttle mission?
A: She's going to be a substitute.



\going to hell
\\ticket please, isle seat
\\\slashies!

I just wanted to add another "I was home sick" to this thread. I have no memory of being sick that day, but I recall very clearly that I was home at the time. I guess I would have been 5. I was in the other room and my mom told me that the shuttle had exploded. That may have been the beginning of my fascination with current events.

My friends always talk about watching it at school, but I'm positive I was at home, so I can only assume I was sick.

I was in 5th grade, watching it live during a special assembly in the cafeteria.

None of us realized what happened right away. I still remember it nearly as well as I remember watching the events unfold on 9/11.

2006-01-26 10:02:16 PM CrotchBeard

The "I was home sick" trifecta is now in play. I had mono.

I think we're far beyond the trifecta at this point. I was home sick with strep in the 4th grade. I had the TV on in my room waiting for news of the launch because none of the cable channels we had was carrying it live. I was on CBS, because I passed out before any news of the launch and woke up to Dan Rather talking about the shuttle exploding and the video of the explosion. It was like waking up in the twilight zone. We had just gotten back from a field trip to Johnson Space Center not long before the day of the launch.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

I got off the bus and looked where there should have been a plume visible from 200 miles away (where I was) and I went inside to see if it was delayed or something.

I remember Apollo 1 too. My grandpa, dad, aunt & her husband all worked at the Cape.

1986, big year for major malfunctions:

Wow, I didn't know that so many schools made their students watch a launch! That's interesting. I doubt they do that as much these days... perhaps because the Cold War is over?

watched it live with my 3rd grade class. we didnt know anything bad had happened until all the teachers ran out of the classroom crying.

I was born about 6 months after this happened, so I'm really enjoying this thread. Getting an idea of how it was--watching it on TV and the nation's reaction.

/had no idea there was a plethora of hellworthy jokes
//or how big the 'teacher in space' thing really was

I lived in Titusville, FL (look it up, close enough to see the shuttle without binoculars) at the time and saw the Challenger explosion in person. That morning my teacher took the class outside to watch the Space Shuttle launch like usual, but things didnt look right about a minute or so into the flight. Soon after the explosion the teachers started crying and the principal hurried everyone back inside. I was too young to really grasp what had happened in front of me.

NASA, Need Another Seven Astronauts.

\warm spot in hell for me

I couldn't really tell you from experience, but I would think that just realizing that it happened 20 years ago sounds like an regular old fact, and may invoke some memories of the incident, but hearing that I, a 19-year-old adult, wasn't yet born when it happened, makes you feel old.

(It's all relative I guess. I feel old when I realize that there are kindergarteners who weren't alive in the 20th century.)

You should all go to nasa.gov right now for "day of remembrance" before they take it down.

RIP:
Gus Grissom
Ed White
Roger Chaffee

"...perhaps because the Cold War is over?"

Not really.

There was a teacher on the shuttle that day, so that is why so many schools and schoolkids were watching.

It was sposed to be good for getting kids into math and the sciences.

That was before we decided to outsource everything in the usa. We dont need no stinking science, we have engineers from India now.

GusGus

Time to feel old...my oldest is in Kindergarten and she was born in 2000.

It's weird to think some of you were too young to remember it or saw it in school. For me that would be like when I saw Neil Armstrong walk on the moon before I was in first grade and listened to oldsters talk about remembering Kennedy being shot or Pearl Harbor.

It'll be weird for you all in say 2021 to remember 9/11 to adults that were kids now. It's a strange to realize how fast 20 years can seem to have gone by. It's faster than you think.

I love shuttle launches, and at that time I was I BELIEVE in 1st grade and I had my mom tape every launch so when I came home I could watch them. I came home and asked my mom if it launched and she told me with tears in her eyes it exploded, and then my eyes exploded with tears. Watching the video of that really bothers me every time I see it.

For those that are talking about not seeing the really close up views of the cabin falling, or it striking the ocean, I suggest next time when the History channel or Discovery channel is running a program on the shuttle to watch it. Because they ususually show that footage.

Wow - thanks for the update on the Challener disaster, pal. Just in time for my "What really happened twenty years ago?" Question of the Day before I go to bed.

I went to McAullife Middle School in '99.....they shut up about the stupid twat they named the school after......

Q: What were the last words heard on the Space Shuttle?

A: "What's this little red button for?" (in "female" voice)

/Watched in in 12th grade at school.
//RIP

I have found the cheese


http://www.2bdfilms.com/features/challenger_columbia_disasters.wmv

mental:

It's a strange to realize how fast 20 years can seem to have gone by. It's faster than you think.

What's weird is the consistency to which a life altering moment occurs in every generations child hood. It's also crazy to line up the stories and see each generation recount the events and surrounding emotions.

All the same, just different specific details.

Also, about the 20 years thing...my mom said one of the hardest moments about growing old was when they had the 40 years after Kennedy was shot memorial things and she remembered it happening. Remembering stuff from 40 years ago has gotta be rough to the self-esteem when others mention they just turned 21. ME! hah

Oh, the other jokes of the day were:

What does NASA stand for?
Need Another Seven Astronauts

How do you fit 12 people in a car?
2 in the front, 3 in the back, and 7 in the ashtray

Terrible... but wildly entertaining when I was in fourth grade. And I did see the shuttle explode - we were off from school that day around Atlanta - snow day.

The guys arguing semantics for gawds sake. Pah!

Feh. Here's my knee-jerk reaction, like it matters:

Myth #1: Bleah. I saw it live, on CNN.
Myth #2: Semantics. Most folks view "Challenger", at least during liftoff, as the entire assembly of shuttle, fuel tank, and boosters. Saying it's a myth to claim that "Challenger exploded" because its fuel tank ruptured, causing an explosion that blew Challenger to pieces while the boosters continued unfettered is like claiming that it's a myth that Pintos didn't burst into flames on impact - instead, that their gas tanks ruptured on impact and the contents burst into flames, engulfing the car.
Myth #3: Absolutely a myth, and I agree. There's plenty of evidence to indicate that the crew lived well after Challenger's fuel tank exploded.
Myth #4: Relativistic conjecture. One set of experts indicates that the design's failure was a "when, not if" situation; another indicates that the design's flaws were manageable. The former is definitely true, while the latter is also probably true.
Myth #5: Probably indeed a myth.
Myth #6: Who knows?
Myth #7: Absolutely a myth. A preventable disaster is not simply "the price we pay." It's incompetence.

We had a closed-circuit TV station in our High School. I was part of the TV class -- we recorded the daily school news during the first period and played the tape back at the beginning of the second period.

In between the periods, our instructor came running in, explaining what happened and we had orders to type what happened on the screen.

We were a bunch of pranksters, and we definitely had a reputation. One of the teachers that hated us waddled (he was about 400 pounds) into the control room and said he was going directly to the Seattle Schools Superintendent about this one. After telling him it's all true, he muttered something under his breath and waddled off.

We ended up patching CNN throughout the school for the entire day, and nothing else mattered. Our Geometry teacher tried to do a regular class, thinking that five hours passing would be enough time, but there were too many upset students. And everyone wanted to watch CNN.

Hell, I'm Canadian and I do remember staying home from school that day to watch something on TV that day. Even if it wasn't live, it sure as hell was traumatic. Now if I had known there was a tape delay, I'm sure that would have lessened it.

Everything I know about this tragedy I learned from an episode of Punky Brewster.

Watched it at the school auditorium...seven years old and I did not know what has happened until everyone gasped. Teacher explained what happened.

Then the Punky Brewster episode came on sometime later.

I was ten years old. I didn't have school that day. Snow day? Administrative day off? I don't remember.

I do remember I was upstairs in my room, playing with my best friend. We'd both seen shuttle launches before, so this one wasn't that interesting to us.

My mom called me from downstairs. "Billy?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you guys should come downstairs."

My friend and I headed down the stairs. I remember thinking my mom want me to watch the launch, because of Christa McAuliffe, even though shuttle launches were kind of boring by then, whatever, &c., &c., &c., and kind of groaning to myself about it. OK, fine. I'll watch the Space Shuttle blast off again.

And then...

God, what a terrible day.

RIP, Challenger Seven

this has all been widely known for a long time. Its just most people get their facts from A. the dumb media B. their dumb friends C. their dumb knee jerk reactions

They don't know how many survived the initial explosion, but the evidence shows that at least one survived. I don't recall the exact number, but something like 3 emergency oxygen canisters were taken from their areas right next to the seats and I think one of them was actually used. So 3, possibly only 1, survived until the end.

Thankfully the impact was so powerful they wouldn't have had time to feel anything. But awaiting your fate must not have been fun times

I watched from out in front of my house. I guess I must have been home sick from school. We were only 7 or so miles from the launch pads in Merritt Island. Funny how the launches become commonplace until one doesn't make it.

I confess, I wasn't one of those people who DIDN'T watch it live. I was out at recess at the time, in third grade.
Our principal came on the loudspeaker and told us. The lights were out in our class (lots of windows, not really dark...teacher had a migraine or something).
Went home and watched it over and over that night with my brother (kindergarten) and pops. Mom was working nights. I seem to remember Peter Jennings in shirtsleeves.

Was a senior in HS. Got all depressed that day and bought the Talking Heads' "Little Creatures" to cheer myself up.

I'm just happy to find a thread that makes me feel young. Too many make me feel old.

I did not watch this live, or ever, since I was 3 when it happened.

DarthBrooks: when most Farkers were wearing Garanimals and watching Thundercats.

Now that was funny.

/now get off my lawn ... damn hippity hop listening baggy pants wearin' no good kids

I remember watching the live satellite feed in 4th grade and everybody staring blankly at the screen for a few seconds processing what had just happened.

I also remember getting a very stern talking-to by the principal three months later. A scene for the class puppet show was at NASA, and when I drew the backdrop for it, I made the logo on the side of the building:

Need
Another
Seven
Astronauts

I've always been a morbid little bastige.

buntz

Am I going to hell for laughing at that?

bulldg4life: Remembering stuff from 40 years ago has gotta be rough to the self-esteem when others mention they just turned 21.


Honestly it just stuns you as to how short a time that actually is - the great optical illusion of youth is that your time is long. It isn't.

NEVER FORGET

all the funny jokes

Sincerely,
An Ethopian with a piece of rice in his throat

I remember watching it live (on NASA TV) in one of the conference rooms in our building while stationed at March AFB in California.

Standing next to my C.O. and the Chief of Maintenance. Without even thinking, my hastily chosen words were "Oh F..k!". My C.O. said, "No kidding".

/Remembers watching Freedom 7 & Alan Shepard on B&W TV
//Yes, I'm that old!