30 Years Ago Today (Challenger)

[Cachoo]

Do you know where you were when the Challenger exploded? (Were you alive?)


I was at at the office and the office clown announced it. I thought he was joking. I wish he was....

 

[genevieve]

I was in high school - my school had no intercom system, important messages were posted on a board in a central area near the cafeteria. At lunch there was a huge crowd and a single piece of paper with the announcement typed on it.

There is an interested article on Gawker today about the final moments of the crew - that they were alive and cognizant from the moment there was an explosion until they hit the water, contrary to what Reagan said and NASA announced. I can see wanting to know from a historical perspective, although I don't think it would have served anyone (particularly their families) to hear those details right off the bat.

 

[Debbie S]

I was in 8th grade and I remember hearing about it at lunch from a girl who was known to be a little crazy and not the sharpest tool, so when she'd told me, I assumed she was either making it up or overheard something else and was terribly confused. Then I heard others talking about it and realized it was actually true.

 

[skatefan]

I remember it clearly, I was with my sister at my aunt's house. My sister was standing on a chair in her wedding dress which my aunt was making for her and we were watching the launch live. It was awful, I can still see us all just standing there hardly believing what we were seeing

 

[Amy L]

I was in kindergarten. I was only 5 so I don't remember it too well, just that some teachers came into the classroom and told my teacher what had happened. Someone pushed the TV cart into the room so they could watch the news. I also remember earlier that year we had an astronaut speak at an assembly - - now that I think about it, that seems wild, the school was in the middle of nowhere in northern Louisiana, there were only about 50 students total and the school was k-12. I don't remember the name of the astronaut that visited, I just remember that it was a woman. She wasn't on Challenger, but I've always had an interest in space since then. Too bad I was always terrible at science in school.

I've always admired astronauts. They're scientists and daredevils at the same time. Smart and brave are admirable qualities, RIP Challenger crew.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

One of my school's teachers was a candidate and was not selected. because of her enthusiasm, the whole school was celebrating and watching it live. It was initially incredibly shocking and then so sad. I was in homeroom in 5th grade.

 

[katmari]

StoryCorps produces little cartoons of American stories. Here's the one they did for physicist Ronald E. McNair who was on the Challenger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okF5UGpivR8

 

[Andrushka]

I was 5 years old living in Germany.

 

[Simone411]

I was 27 years old, and I was at home that day. With the job I had back then, my two days off were Monday and Tuesday. I was so excited to actually be able to watch it. I stood up from sitting on my sofa with disbelief at first. It didn't seem real. Then, reality hit and I began crying. My best friend called me crying, and we both stayed on the phone for what seemed like forever while watching it.

I watched a documentary earlier this week about it, and that same feeling came back with so much sadness.

 

[once_upon]

I was sitting on the couch feeding my 3 month old son and my 3 year old son was watching with me. I was so shocked that it took me a few minutes to realize the 3 year old should not be watching and to find something to distract him with.

 

[judiz]

I was returning from my lunch break from my first teaching job when the owner of the school stopped me to tell me. I had to read every article about the accident for days after.

 

[Really]

Do you know where you were when the Challenger exploded? (Were you alive?)


I was at at the office and the office clown announced it. I thought he was joking. I wish he was....

I was pregnant with my son, I subbed in one of the local schools and found out about the disaster at lunch time when students returned for the afternoon. We went home that night and watched what we could on Canadian rural non-satellite TV, and celebrated our daughter's 2nd birthday.

 

[moebius]

I was a freshman in high school. Had to write an essay about it for an AP English class assignment. Got a C on that essay.

 

[ArtisticFan]

I was young and still in my home country then. I remember the coverage of it even at that point.

 

[twinsissv]

Sitting in my kindergarten classroom having lunch and listening to some quiet music on the radio. It was suddenly broadcast as an emergency bulletin. Left the room and told the other faculty members. We all went to the principal's office and watched the coverage on her tv for the rest of the day. You know...I never did find out who covered our classes after lunch that day. Fortunately, we had a top-notch principal who took care of that responsibility...since we were all in shock.

 

[sk8pics]

I was in grad school and in the lab that day. People in my research group had had projects related to the shuttle, and samples that had gone up, so it hit us all very hard.

 

[skatemomaz]

I was living in NYC and watching it on TV while getting ready for work. It was very hard to go to work after that.

 

[twinsissv]

I was in grad school and in the lab that day. People in my research group had had projects related to the shuttle, and samples that had gone up, so it hit us all very hard.

Oh...my...gosh. Personal tragedies.