• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

27 Years Ago: Challenger

94Deac

94Deac

Grouchy SOB
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
8,844
Reaction score
998
Location
The 345
It was a really cold Tuesday in metro Atlanta and many school systems, ours included, were out. Same weather system that delayed the launch and iced over much of the south. I remember some guys from the neighborhood were at my house and we were watching it. The instant it happened, we all knew something was very wrong.

nasa_challenger_exp_ssh.jpg
 
I'll never forget that day. Later that night the first dog I ever owned, Rambo a black lab, was run over and killed. All of this a week before my 5th birthday. Its one of the oldest memories I have.
 
I think I was out of school too, in Winston. I seem to remember being with my brother at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find Comic Book store on Brookstown eating doughnuts from the Lighthouse. Does the Lighthouse have doughnuts? Hmmm, I'm pretty sure I was at Heroes though.
 
We didn't have school in NJ. Watching while eating at Sal's Pizza up the road from my house.
 
Watched it live in my fifth grade math class while playing with Garbage Pail Kids cards.
 
It was a snow day off from school for us in Newport News, VA. I woke up late and turned on my radio, and heard the local shock jock talking about the Space Shuttle blowing up. I remember thinking to myself that his joke wasn't funny. I went downstairs and turned on the TV to find that it sadly was not a joke. That was a Pearl Harbor/JFK assassination/9-11 never forget where you were day.

Another lasting memory of mine was President Reagan's speech later that day.
 
The Challenger accident is my first "I remember exactly where I was" moment.
I was in 5th grade science class, we had a substitute teacher that day. Someone from the principal's office came into the classroom and whispered to the teacher, which I overheard. We spent the rest of the day watching the tv coverage.
 
I was a young'un but we were living in Naples, FL at the time and I remember this day vividly. I was quite upset and esp because you could see the smoke and stuff in the sky all day.
 
I remember the day all too well. I was a freshman in high school and my school was directly across the Indian River from the launch site. I was standing in the parking lot of the school look out across the river at the launch when it exploded. It was surreal and unbelievable although we all knew immediately what we had just witnessed right in front of us. It was a bizarre time as a large percentage of my town's population worked for Nasa or one of its subcontractors. It was definitely one of those moments that are forever burned in my memory like it was yesterday.
 
One of my first "I remember exactly where I was" moments also. I was in first grade here in Atlanta and we had an assembly to watch it live.
 
I was at Wake and at class when it happened. When I came back to my room, a suitemate said "there was an explosion on the Challenger." I was thinking of something minor and a crash landing in the ocean. "I hope everyone's alright," I said. Then I saw it on TV and understood.
 
awaken said:
I was at Wake and at class when it happened. When I came back to my room, a suitemate said "there was an explosion on the Challenger." I was thinking of something minor and a crash landing in the ocean. "I hope everyone's alright," I said. Then I saw it on TV and understood.
Click to expand...

That was kind of how 9/11 was for me. I had briefly browsed news in the morning and saw something about a plane hitting the WTC and thought it was another small pilot plane (there was one that hit the Empire State a few years before?) and I went to grab some coffee. The HVAC guy walks into the break room and was like "DID YOU SEE THE PLANE?!?" and I said "Yeah... did the guy lose track in the fog or something?" and he was like "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!" and he dragged me to the TV downstairs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top