15 things about the Challenger flight disaster...

[F4Gary]

Was anybody even phased by the Columbia disaster? I remember the day it happened and of course felt bad for the lives affected but I was no where near as intreagued...

Yes. It happen right over DFW. Heard the sonic boom and thought a branch had fallen on the roof. Found out what it really was when I turned on the radio.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

Those memorial trees have been flattened to make room for a non-memorial car drop off lane. These coddled millenials ruin everything.

P.s. they still have a moon tree, so they got that going for them.

Im gonna poach the Moon Tree and plant it in my yard in protest.

 

[Fijimn]

Yes. It happen right over DFW. Heard the sonic boom and thought a branch had fallen on the roof. Found out what it really was when I turned on the radio.

They found debris fields all the way in Coushatta Parish.

 

[nynole1]

Was in 2nd grade sitting in class up here in NY. They wheeled a TV on a cart into the room so we could all watch. I still remember the silence that fell over the room as the teachers took in what happened. No one said a word, the kids had no real concept of what had happened. Eventually, one of the teachers turned off the TV and wheeled it out of the room. I seriously remember next to nothing about my early years, but I will never forget that.

I almost wish I hadnt read these stories about what happened. I felt much better about it believing all these years that they just blew up and died instantly.

 

[seminole97]

4th grade was my last year going to school at Rhein-Main, Germany.
Mr. Nortle was my science and math teacher, and at that point somewhere in the running to be the teacher in space. I remember the large model of the shuttle he had in his classroom.
I was going to school in Florida in 5th grade when it happened. We weren’t watching live for some reason, although I distinctly recall each room had a CCTV setup that was bought with lottery money.
A friend of mine came into class and announced it. I just remember being glad Mr Nortle wasn’t on that ride.

 

[Nolomite]

The classroom at TCC? Yeah. I'm that old.
The contrail? Yeah. You could see it if you were in an open enough area and the trees weren't blocking the view. Which was easier back then, as Tallahassee had just been hit by Hurricane Kate a few months earlier.

Many of my best friends were in the Meteorology department, and were standing on top of the Love Building looking to get a glimpse at the contrail/whatever with binoculars (presumably). They had no radio with them, so they saw the expansive contrails and were amazed - until they went inside and found out what had happened.

 

[321Nole]

Was just on a flight a few minutes ago and the lady next to me was a retired kindergarten teacher. We were talking and somehow she brought up the Challenger explosion and how sad it was to work through it with all of her kids.

 

[PoopandBoogers]

If you guys remember, Christa McCauliffe was a citizen-teacher picked from the population to teach kids from space. Her parents' reaction in the crowd is gut wrenching. We had books and lesson plans especially designed for her to teach us from space. I had forgotten about that. We have probably over 15 schools in the county name related to NASA, and 3 are named after the incident- McCauliffe, McNair, Challenger7.

 

[cmanole]

Yes. It happen right over DFW. Heard the sonic boom and thought a branch had fallen on the roof. Found out what it really was when I turned on the radio.

They found debris fields all the way in Coushatta Parish.

Yeah, I'm sure if you were right there it left a bigger impression. But as pboog and semiologist said this one was somewhat overshadowed by 9/11 and the fact that it wasn't the first shuttle disaster to happen and wasn't being watched on tv by half the country, which is more like what I was thinking...

 

[OsceolaNole]

4th grade was my last year going to school at Rhein-Main, Germany.
Mr. Nortle was my science and math teacher, and at that point somewhere in the running to be the teacher in space. I remember the large model of the shuttle he had in his classroom.
I was going to school in Florida in 5th grade when it happened. We weren’t watching live for some reason, although I distinctly recall each room had a CCTV setup that was bought with lottery money.
A friend of mine came into class and announced it. I just remember being glad Mr Nortle wasn’t on that ride.

I was in 1st grade at the time. But the woman who was #2 behind McCauliffe would turn out to be my chemistry teacher in high school. The accident had significantly impacted her.

 

[kj9127]

They also interred the recovered parts of the shuttle to keep people from selling the pieces as souvenirs. Because some people suck.

The parents of Gregory Jarvis lived in an apartment a couple of doors down from my exwife and me at the time. Their apartment was broken into during the funeral, the date of which of course was publically known.

 

[noleone99]

The parents of Gregory Jarvis lived in an apartment a couple of doors down from my exwife and me at the time. Their apartment was broken into during the funeral, the date of which of course was publically known.

That’s completely messed up. Wow

 

[Semiologist]

The parents of Gregory Jarvis lived in an apartment a couple of doors down from my exwife and me at the time. Their apartment was broken into during the funeral, the date of which of course was publically known.

Maybe those Islamic Hudud punishments aren't such a bad idea. If ever anyone deserved to lose a hand........

 

[BigDog214]

I went to pay a bill at a department store later that morning.....

Was this before US Mail was invented?

 

[DFSNOLE]

Was this before US Mail was invented?

Pony Express had thrown a shoe.

 

[Nolezilla]

Similar to NoleSoul, I was on my way home from class (SPJC main campus) and was stopped at a light facing due East. I just happened to look up not a second or two after the explosion and saw the two boosters streaming off to the sides. I remember thinking, obviously, that's not right, wth?!? Tried to get something on the radio on the way home and then turned on the TV.

 

[noleclone2]

I was in 8th grade Algerbra and I still vividly remember our class clown returning to class from a bathroom break saying “you guys the challenger blew up”. We all laughed until an ashen face teacher came in behind him and said it was true.

 

[BloodyNoseJose]

I was in a classroom at TCC when it came out about the Challenger disaster. You could see the contrail from Tallahassee. Odd fact: I had just finished reading Richard Feynman's first biography a short time before the disaster. He was instrumental in discovering the O ring problem, and there is conjecture that NASA would have buried the results had he not demonstrated the problem during the Rogers Commission hearings.

Feynman probably made a boring O-ring description totally captivating. That guy could make paint drying interesting.