Challenger: 30 Years Ago Today

Wow, 30 years ago? No shit..... I was 29 then. Doesn't seem like that long ago.

Junior year in college, the instructor came into class and told us all the Challenger had exploded on launch. Had to finish classes the rest of the day before I could get back to the dorm to watch news. One of my roommates comes in right before dinner making "Space Shuttle Pinto" jokes -- closest to murder I ever got. To cap it all off, that night was my first ever meeting with the L5 Society (one of the predecessors for today's National Space Society) -- as you can imagine, a very morose meeting.

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Originally Posted by Aloha_Shooter

Junior year in college, the instructor came into class and told us all the Challenger had exploded on launch. Had to finish classes the rest of the day before I could get back to the dorm to watch news. One of my roommates comes in right before dinner making "Space Shuttle Pinto" jokes -- closest to murder I ever got. To cap it all off, that night was my first ever meeting with the L5 Society (one of the predecessors for today's National Space Society) -- as you can imagine, a very morose meeting.

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and, in actuality, it was virtually a Pinto replay, where the launch was made for publicity's sake at the expense of safety. e.g., it was a calculated roll of the dice, and the astronauts died because of it.

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Originally Posted by HBARleatherneck

I look at it like this...

A good portion of the members here didnt even know about the 1983 Beriut bombing that killed 241 American serviceman. Those men who died, didnt do it to be remembered and they were looking for fame. They did it ouf of a sense of duty. Nobody knows and nobody cares about their lives. Astronauts are celebrities so people care. Death is all around us. They went looking for it and found it.

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There difference for me is plain .. and my telling will be blunt

I didn't watch the Beriut bombing live an in color in my 3rd grade classroom.... I'm not saying the news of the event was hidden from me as a child but it was certainly not as in my face as the Challenger was.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...blames-himself

thiokol engineer knew it would blow. but NASA made its wager.

In high school, between classes and standing at my locker, I overheard the "What does NASA stand for?" joke a few lockers down. I thought to myself "OK, funny I guess, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Walked into my next class and heard the news. Then the joke made sense, and I felt guilty for laughing out loud.

Was at work and casually stepped outside to watch just another launch. I had seen all the launches since the Apollo days from my backyard on the Space Coast of Florida. A sad day indeed. Can't believe it's been 30 years.

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I was at Ft Benning and was watching it on a TV in the brace shop. Stunned was the word of the day.

I was in highschool when Gene Atkinsin walked into english class. He looked really down and said "The shuttle just blew up". I responded with "That's not funny". It then became apparent he was not kidding. We went and got a TV, nothing else happened that day. We were all just in too much shock.

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Originally Posted by Hound

I was in highschool when Gene Atkinsin walked into english class. He looked really down and said "The shuttle just blew up". I responded with "That's not funny". It then became apparent he was not kidding. We went and got a TV, nothing else happened that day. We were all just in too much shock.

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Lakewood HS?