re: 29 years ago today: Space Shuttle Challenger exploded

rainy day recess at STM, they went on intercom and told us.

I was staking out a 10 acre plot in Sulphur Springs, TX and it was cold as shite that morning.

My mother was in the contest for the teacher's spot on Challenger. She had to drop out when she found out she was pregnant with me.

i was working a work-study job in the LSU Dept of Entomology, 5th floor life sciences bldg. The professor came in and grabbed me to go to his office and watch the replay. Everyone was shocked.

quote:

---

29 years ago today: Space Shuttle Challenger exploded

---

I saw it happen. I didn't know exactly what had happened. But, I was watching it go up, then, something looked wrong.

Oh, and I don't mean I watched on TV.

raw footage of people watching the before and after

LINK

Was in a class at Charity Hospital School of Nursing. One of the school's administrators came in and told us.

I was at home shipping school that day and was watching it on TV with a friend. My dad, who worked in communications, was actually at Marshall in Huntsville that day. His company was doing contract work for NASA. He has told me the story several times about how that place basically went on lock down within 1/2 an hour. There had been a miniature cross section of a booster in one hangar showing the internal configuration of the booster on display. Of course, there was a buzz all around the campus among NASA employees as well as outside contractors about what occurred. About 3 days after the explosion, an engineer my dad was friendly with told him "I can tell you exactly what I think happened" and proceeded to draw out a sketch of a boosters sections on a piece of copy paper. He told dad then that it was likely an O-Ring issue but had to draw it out because dad wasn't familiar with the booster anatomy. He also told dad that day to go to the hangar where the mini version was at to get a better idea. Dad walked over a bit later and he said that model had been taken down already and that the entire campus had a feel of martial law imposed for the remaining 3 weeks he was there. Hush, hush. Nobody was saying a word to outsiders about the explosion and clearance to previously non-restricted areas was shut down unless you had an escort. He did not have the foresight to keep the sketch that engineer gave him just 3 days after the explosion and kicks himself even today for not doing so as it really would have been a neat thing to have.

I saw a Youtube video of the families of the astronauts watching the launch.

It's surreal how long it took them to register what had just happened. They were kind of just staring, confused. It was a couple of minutes before anyone starting freaking out. The incident was that shocking.

I watched from home next to my kerosene space heater. I was at home sick that day.