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Twenty-five Years Ago, 7 people lost their life.

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Analog said:
  • Myth 3: Millions Watched on Live TV

    Photograph by Richard Drew, AP
    In the hours and days following the disaster, footage of the Challenger accident was "replayed incessantly" on the major television networks, Neal said. This could explain why many people "remember" witnessing Challenger's destruction live on television, when in fact what they probably saw was a replay.
    "It's false that most people saw the disaster live on TV," Neal said.
    For one thing, most of the major TV networks did not broadcast the launch live. For another, the launch occurred on a Tuesday at 11:39 a.m., eastern time, when most people across the country were at work.
    The handful of people who did see the tragedy unfold on live television were watching it on NASA's channel via satellite dishes—technology that relatively few people had at the time—or on CNN.
    Published January 27, 2011
Click to expand...

Almost everyone I know who claims to have seen it live said that they saw it in school because their schools always had the students watch live shuttle launches when they happened during class. If this was common across the country, I can see how millions could have seen it... most of them children.

Edit: I checked on the video Ichinisan linked to and the first comment was from someone who watched it in class in 7th grade. It probably was pretty common.
 
CZroe said:
Almost everyone I know who claims to have seen it live said that they saw it in school because their schools always had the students watch live shuttle launches when they happened during class. If this was common across the country, I can see how millions could have seen it... most of them children.

Edit: I checked on the video Ichinisan linked to and the first comment was from someone who watched it in class in 7th grade. It probably was pretty common.
Click to expand...

We were on the bus when it happened (jr high). As soon as it got to school they told everyone and wheeled out TVs so we could watch news coverage. 🙁

Such a change in philosophy at NASA these days. We were down at Kennedy in September and saw Discovery on the pad ready for launch in a few weeks. Was scrubbed either once or twice due to weather. Then some issues popped up (small leak in umbilical connector and I believe some insulation cracks in the main fuel tank). So they scrapped the whole launch, fixed everything, and it's just NOW getting ready to be wheeled back out to the pad on Monday.

That's how it should be done.
 
dainthomas said:
We were on the bus when it happened (jr high). As soon as it got to school they told everyone and wheeled out TVs so we could watch news coverage. 🙁

Such a change in philosophy at NASA these days. We were down at Kennedy in September and saw Discovery on the pad ready for launch in a few weeks. Was scrubbed either once or twice due to weather. Then some issues popped up (small leak in umbilical connector and I believe some insulation cracks in the main fuel tank). So they scrapped the whole launch, fixed everything, and it's just NOW getting ready to be wheeled back out to the pad on Monday.

That's how it should be done.
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You were still on the bus at 11:40 Eastern? That's 8:40 Pacific. Where did you live?
 
I remember the day well. Was in a design review meeting, and one of the bigwig Engineering Directors came by the meeting room and gave us the news. Very sad day 🙁.
 
Why didn't the Challenger crew shower before takeoff?
They figured they'd wash up on shore.



Too soon?
 
techs said:
Why didn't the Challenger crew shower before takeoff?
They figured they'd wash up on shore.



Too soon?
Click to expand...

Christa McAuliffe is rumored to have told her husband right before the flight, "You feed the dogs, I'll feed the fish."

Sad thing. I was at work high in the mountains of Western Wyoming. One of our dump truck drivers heard it on the radio...we all gathered around and listened to the news story. That evening I saw it on television.
 
I watched it live my senior year in high school and we were all pretty stunned. When Reagan spoke later that day it was reassuring to hear his message of hope for the future.

On a side note, I worked at a theme park at the time in the games department. We had a bank of those crane games where you try to pick up a stuffed animal and drop it in the win chute. The games were named "The Challenger" and had a graphic of a space shuttle with the remote arm extended on them. I spent the next day helping removing those graphics and changing the name.
 
Wonder what happened to the P.R. guy who said, "I have a great idea. It's called "Schoolteacher in Space Program.
 
I remember seeing Jay Leno doing his standup routine on some talk show about a week before. He was joking about the flight and said something about this being a childhood fantasy of a lot of kids- "Yeah, that's a great idea. Let's launch our teacher into outer space!"
 
I wasn't born yet...

When Endeavour broke up, I found out while taking a dump in the morning.
 
It was broadcast live. I was home, and 10 years old. I didn't go to school that day because I was sick. I remember my mom going to the grocery store and I was told to watch TV while she was gone and not go anywhere. I remember we did not have cable, or satellite tv. We had broadcast channels and there were 5 of them. 4 of them had soap operas on, so the only one remaining had the challenger launch. I remember waiting which seemed forever for the shuttle to launch. Doing all their checks and countdowns. I watched it fly into the sky and explode. I remember when my mom came home I told her "Mom! The space shuttle blew up!" And she was like "No it didn't!"... I said "Yes it did, look at TV" (they were showing replays then)...

It was indeed on TV live.

Edit:

A year ago I was youtubing some of the footage... I seen one where the backup teacher (it was actually the primary teacher who was picked for the event, but had to bail because she was pregnant or something) on the ground with the video camera with her dad... Taping the video from right under the shuttle launch platform, taping from the non news media platform and hearing her comment... She was very terrified, and was a sobering video... Google it guys to get a different point of view. I can't remember her name, but if you look on wiki for the other lady you can enter her name into the youtube search.
 
Last edited:
I saw it live on TV, but I was in elementary school.
Teacher was too flummoxed to turn it off. We were scarred for life.
At least I was.
 
brandonb said:
A year ago I was youtubing some of the footage... I seen one where the backup teacher (it was actually the primary teacher who was picked for the event, but had to bail because she was pregnant or something) on the ground with the video camera with her dad... Taping the video from right under the shuttle launch platform, taping from the non news media platform and hearing her comment... She was very terrified, and was a sobering video... Google it guys to get a different point of view. I can't remember her name, but if you look on wiki for the other lady you can enter her name into the youtube search.
Click to expand...

Barbara Morgan. After Challenger the whole retarded Teacher in Space Program was canceled, but Morgan ended up being selected as a real astronaut, went through the full training program and flew on STS-118.

Edit for trivia: The mission commander on Morgan's flight was Scott Kelly, the twin brother of Gabriel Giffords' husband.
 
I did not see it live. I was sitting in the gym at my high school watching a P.E. class/doing homework when the Headmaster walked in and announced what had happened. I spent most of the rest of the day in the drafting/architecture room watching the news on the TV the teacher had in there.

MotionMan
 
I had worked on the Orbiter in Palmdale from '76 thru '78,
and the Vandenberg Launch Complex built for the Shuttle.
The Challenger was the only Orbiter built to perform in Polar Orbit.
I had transfered from the West Coast to the East Coast and
was in Casselberry,Fla. - still with Martin.
I was outside of the Cafeteria, looking East watching the climb-out from
maybe 30 miles away, visual contact at around +10 seconds of flight.
Watched it climb for the last minute+.


& Just finished the last few tanks, over a year ago.
 
ichy said:
Barbara Morgan. After Challenger the whole retarded Teacher in Space Program was canceled, but Morgan ended up being selected as a real astronaut, went through the full training program and flew on STS-118.

Edit for trivia: The mission commander on Morgan's flight was Scott Kelly, the twin brother of Gabriel Giffords' husband.
Click to expand...
Nice info.
 
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