shadowcat1313 Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 STS-51L Challenger.... How many of us remember where we were and what our reaction was on that awful day when 7 astronauts rode that pillar of flame on its final voyage http://unkaphaed.livejournal.com/168075.html they say each new frontier takes its toll of lives and tears, but our future is out there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today To those that died on this day so many years ago, I say you are remembered. May your lives and death's guide us forward into a better tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thia Halmades Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today ... I think I was 10 (20 years ago, I must've been) and they called us out of class to watch the aftermath on the news. We hung our heads, and said a prayer. It was discussed at home. Did I want to be an astronaut? I didn't know I could get blown up, I replied at the time. It was a tragic time, but amazing how much I learned from my parents about JFK and how a nation reacts to that level of crisis. That was the closest we came in my generation to that magnitude of tragedy. *salute* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I'm not going to say that Dick Scobee was a frend of mine, but we had met. He knew the risk, considered the potential gains well worth them. I presume all the other astronauts, past and present, would agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted January 29, 2006 Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today This was my tribute. Maybe it deserves more text, but I think the name alone says enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted January 30, 2006 Report Share Posted January 30, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today My tribute is on my home page, at the bottom. http://www.projectrho.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt JT Kohonez Posted January 30, 2006 Report Share Posted January 30, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was standing in the living room of my apartment in a 4 story walk up tenement in a rough part of Brooklyn watching the launch. When the shuttle exploded I felt a cold chill and nauseous from the horror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdamnhero Posted January 30, 2006 Report Share Posted January 30, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was walking down a stairwell, when a former roommate coming up the stairs with a stunned look on his face told me the news. I can still remember the look on Danny's face, and I'm sure the look on my face was about the same. bigdamnhero “It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for five years.†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamerz123 Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was still in school at the time When I first heard the news, I thought there'd been a pad fire like Apollo 1. Then we saw the footage... Personally, I'd become an astronaut in a heartbeat if I could. But I'm the kind who feels the potential future rewards to humanity outweigh the risks. Also makes you appreciate people in certain jobs (like Police and Fire Fighters) a lot more. They take a similar risk every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was a freshman in college. I heard about it on campus but didn't see the footage until I got home that afternoon. That's when the magnitude hit me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was in Social Studies Class with Mr. Wong and we were watching the launch as part of something he planned a lesson on, but things went out the window when it happened. We were stunned... We had just watched 7 people die in an instant. Even the teachers were shocked by it. There was a informal moment of silence and a huge debate on what lead to the explosion, not who's fault, but how to prevent such an event in the future. Interesting times QM P.S.: As you can see the event was firmly imprinted on my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archermoo Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was in Social Studies Class with Mr. Wong and we were watching the launch as part of something he planned a lesson on, but things went out the window when it happened. We were stunned... We had just watched 7 people die in an instant. Even the teachers were shocked by it. There was a informal moment of silence and a huge debate on what lead to the explosion, not who's fault, but how to prevent such an event in the future. Interesting times QM P.S.: As you can see the event was firmly imprinted on my mind. Depends on how you define "an instant". Very likely some if not all of them lived until the cabin hit the water 2 or 3 minutes after the shuttle ripped itself apart. A sobering thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today Depends on how you define "an instant". Very likely some if not all of them lived until the cabin hit the water 2 or 3 minutes after the shuttle ripped itself apart. A sobering thought. Unlikely. IIRC largest piece of a space suit found was half a helmet. Damage wasn't from impact, was from the explosion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I didnt hear about till I got home from school. My mother was watching a replay at the time I entered the door, before she could say anything, it happened. I dont remember blinking for a while, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today Depends on how you define "an instant". Very likely some if not all of them lived until the cabin hit the water 2 or 3 minutes after the shuttle ripped itself apart. A sobering thought. Unlikely. IIRC largest piece of a space suit found was half a helmet. Damage wasn't from impact' date=' was from the explosion.[/quote'] I beg to differ. From http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097 Myth #3: The crew died instantly The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 ft before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Page Fault Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today I was 7, at the time, and obviously in elementary school. We had a substitute teacher that day, a man whose name I can't recall but I have a clear picture of him. It was PE time, and we were playing basketball I think... or something to do with the basketball hoop, as I was next in line when we heard the news. Yes, I have a pretty clear memory of it. It didn't deter me. I went to SpaceCamp a few years later, in fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Frisbee Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Re: 20 Years ago Today For the Challenger Disaster, I was in the Army on CQ (Charge of Quarters) duty for my training unit for the day. I didn't see it as it happened, but after the office went on the night shift, I had an opportunity to watch it multiple times as each and every news story even remotely connected to the subject started with the explosion. I felt very sad. I had been a big supporter of the shuttle since its beginning, especially when Congress was threatening to kill the project by withdrawl of funding to NASA. I had written letters to Congressmen and Senators, called local talk shows and had generally been cheerleader for a revitalized space program. I had forgotten that three astronauts had died as part of the Apollo project. I had forgotten that pilots had died in the X-15 project. And the others who had died trying to break the sound barrier. And the thousands who died in England, victims of the technology which had been perfected by Nazi scientists, and the tens of thousands who had died in slave labor supporting their efforts. It takes sacrifices of all kinds to achieve the dreams of a nation's people. It may have been seven deaths in a highly publicized accident to make that fact hit home, but the costs in human lives and misery for reaching for space and the planets and stars beyond have never been cheap. But we've never had a lack of people willing to try, and as long as we remain human, we never will lack for dreamers, explorers and adventurers. Funny thing, though. If NASA has an opening for middle-aged myopic, obese astronauts -- I'm still available. Matt "Still-looking-for-a-way-off-this-rock" Frisbee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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