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ThePresence

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,727
16
81
The Challenger space shuttle exploded. I was just an 8 year old kid, but I remember it very clearly. It was all that we spoke about in school the next day. I remember Regean's speech. I don't know why, but somehow it seemed so much more of a national tragedy than Columbia. Maybe it's just that I was a little kid so it made a bigger impression...
 
FoBoT

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
i was in college, so i was sleeping at the time
i had left the radio on when i fell asleep, so i woke up to the news on the radio talking about it
 
X

xeemzor

Platinum Member
Mar 27, 2005
2,599
1
71
Originally posted by: ThePresence
The Challenger space shuttle exploded. I was just an 8 year old kid, but I remember it very clearly. It was all that we spoke about in school the next day. I remember Regean's speech. I don't know why, but somehow it seemed so much more of a national tragedy than Columbia. Maybe it's just that I was a little kid so it made a bigger impression...
Click to expand...

Old fart ;) I realized I was getting old the other day when I thought 2002 was new :(
 
hanoverphist

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
i was in high school. at work that night, the crew came up with a slew of space shuttle jokes for the occasion.
 
P

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,158
59
91
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
i was in high school. at work that night, the crew came up with a slew of space shuttle jokes for the occasion.
Click to expand...
I remember a lot of those.

"What's the last thing the captain said?" "No, BUD Light!".

Last order issued by the captain? "Okay, let the woman fly it now".

And they just got worse from there.
 
A

Alistar7

Lifer
May 13, 2002
11,978
0
0
Back then a shuttle launch was a huge deal, especially that one considering a teacher was on board. I was in high school when that happened. Like most of the launches of that time period it was being broadcast to all classrooms, although I was watching in the lunch room. You could have heard a pin drop anywhere in that building, a very somber moment to say the least.
 
H

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
3
71
I was in elementary school. Honors history. Its amazing how some things are remembered so clearly... :(
 
F

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
1
0
4 years later, i was born. still, i remember 9/11 very well. also the morning when columbia disintegrated.
 
hanoverphist

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
Originally posted by: Pacfanweb
Originally posted by: hanoverphist
i was in high school. at work that night, the crew came up with a slew of space shuttle jokes for the occasion.
Click to expand...
I remember a lot of those.

"What's the last thing the captain said?" "No, BUD Light!".

Last order issued by the captain? "Okay, let the woman fly it now".

And they just got worse from there.
Click to expand...

what color were her eyes?

how many nasa astronauts can you fit in a vw bug?

whats nasa stand for?

ya, most were too bad to repeat in mixed company, but all of them funny as hell to a jerk high school kid.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: ThePresence
The Challenger space shuttle exploded. I was just an 8 year old kid, but I remember it very clearly. It was all that we spoke about in school the next day. I remember Regean's speech. I don't know why, but somehow it seemed so much more of a national tragedy than Columbia. Maybe it's just that I was a little kid so it made a bigger impression...
Click to expand...
Back then, the shuttle was still fairly new and all "Oooooh-Ahhhhh." By the time of Columbia, it was, "Oh look, there's another shuttle launch."

I was only 4 at the time, I wasn't able to see video of the explosion until over 15 years later.

I saw video of Columbia the morning it happened. It brought shivers to see that bright point of light speeding through the atmosphere, knowing that only a few minutes before, it was a fully-crewed shuttle.:(
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,407
8,595
126
i was at the outdoor learning center in katy, texas, for a field trip. i had cupcakes because it was my birthday. it was a nice day out.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,642
15,026
146
Wow...I was on a construction job in Wyoming that day. We crowded around in the rigger's shack to hear about it on the radio. I saw the news footage on the TV when I got home that night.
Seemed like a HUGE tragedy at the time...MUCH more so than the recent Columbia disaster for some reason.

Of course, I'm old enough to remember when Chaffee, White, and Grissom died in the Apollo 1 fire... That was quite a shock...the first US astronauts to die. That happened 40 years ago yesterday. Set back the Apollo program quite a bit.
 
DangerAardvark

DangerAardvark

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2004
7,559
0
0
Reagan's Speech later that day.

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
 
Ika

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
Originally posted by: xeemzor
Originally posted by: ThePresence
The Challenger space shuttle exploded. I was just an 8 year old kid, but I remember it very clearly. It was all that we spoke about in school the next day. I remember Regean's speech. I don't know why, but somehow it seemed so much more of a national tragedy than Columbia. Maybe it's just that I was a little kid so it made a bigger impression...
Click to expand...

Old fart ;) I realized I was getting old the other day when I thought 2002 was new :(
Click to expand...

I still think anything after 2000 is recent, and I'm only 18.
 
B

Bryophyte

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
13,430
13
81
I was in senior social studies class and we watched it live. I remember we all sat there just stunned.
 
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