I was attending a Technical College in Winston-Salem, NC, sitting in a calculus class when I heard about the Space Shuttle exploding. It was one of the most shocking things in my life up to that point because you have a certain amount of awe associated with NASA and there had never been a problem with a Space Shuttle mission. I remember driving home that afternoon, and of course the news was all over the radio. The DJ on my favorite station at that time dedicated the song "Silent Running" by Mike and the Mechanics to the crew of the Challenger and now I always associate that song with the event. I hate to bring up something so melancholy on a Friday but that's one of those big "Where were you"'s of the 80's.

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I was sick at home. The next day one of my friends got suspended for pulling a stupid stunt. He decided that he would light a paper airplane on fire and float it across the cafeteria. I didn't see it happen (was out in the smoking area. Remember those?) but heard about it later.

this is the same guy that got suspended for a year for starting a stampede during lunch. YOu see, that year our asst. principal had been shot during lunch by one of the students. The cafeteria had emptied out and people were just a little freaked out. Later that year this guy decided to throw a bunch of firecrackers into the stairwell of the cafeteria. The school emptied out in seconds. http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/eek.gif

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Well, I'm new to this forum, but since I worked for Grumman Aerospace at the time and actually built Space Shuttle wing components, this seems like the appropriate place to introduce myself.

I was at work in Grumman's Plant 1, in Bethpage, Long Island. As usual, whenever a Grumman product was in the news (in this case the wings, some fuselage and flight control surfaces), there were TV sets all over the
place, tuned to the launch. I didn't realize what had happened at first. But I will never forget the statement "Mission Control, launch director reports major system failures" and "Houston reports down link lost" The entire
plant went silent. You could hear a pin drop, or at least a few wrenches and power tools as people went into shock. A lot of people left early. Nothing much more got done that day.

Like everyone else in the country, it made me reflective. I had always had the utmost faith in NASA. They were perfect. Infallible. Being a child of the 60's, I remember Apollo mission launches and watching men walk
on the moon. I guess actually having worked on the program made it feel a little close to home. Wow, have not thought about that in quite a while.

Peace
Phalanx

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I was in my dorm room at McChord Air Force Base when I heard the news and it was such a shock. There has only been a few times in my life where I have been affected so emotionally by an event and this was one of them. Even now whenever I see the video of the launch I feel sick to my stomach.

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I was working as a shipping manager at an office supply company. We had a small TV in the warehouse and were watching it live. Definitely a sick feeling.

Pagan
http://www.jdpro.com/livesay

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I was in the 6th grade... we were watching it live because one of our teachers was one of the top ten runners-up to go on that mission, but she lost out. Very eerie to watch... even to this day...

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I don't remember where I was. I was 2 when it happened hehehe. But I remember the first time I saw it happen. I think it was two years ago or something like that. It didn't hit me ass hard cause I knew it was in the past, but still it was a scary sight.

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Keep The Faith, These Days And Always ;)
Amy Livin

I had just gotten out of the Army, and was getting dressed for a job interview while watching the launch. Man, you could tell something was wrong! There was no confimation of what had happened b4 I had to leave. I was pretty sure the crew was SOL though. After the interview, I heard on the radio that there was indeed an explosion. It seems like it took a long time for the details to come out. I don't really remember anymore. Sad.

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Watch out for these guys...<IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/wi2/bigtoan/images/ralf001.gif" border=0>...they're Trouble!

I was in school.. 6th or 7th grade.. Yeah, it was wierd! I didn't actually see it but all the sudden I heard somebody mention it. The whole school seemed to get quiet.. It was definatly wierd... Our classroom had a TV so the teacher turned it on and we got to see what happened... It didn't seem real at first...

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80sXChange Homepage (http://www.80sxchange.com)

I was a freshman in high school. We watched coverage on tv for a good part of that day. It was eerie.

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I was in school .....we had all gatherd in the commons to watch it...and boomm....crying..it was too scary..i remember like it was yesterday

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Canopy Haz Spoken

I was a sophomore at Penn State University and was watching the launch in the basement rec room alone. I remember thinking as it took off "I wonder what would happen if it blew up?" And it did! I was mortified and physically sick all day.

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Whoa... morbid! I dont remember what year it was...

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~*~*~*Tydestra*~*~*~
Glam Goddess
"Hey I am an angel. Can't you see the halo? Its being held up by those little horns."
<A HREF="http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/GLAMisBACK" TARGET=_blank><u>~*~*~GLAMisBACK~*~*</u></A>
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I was a senior in high school, and in art honors class. There were only 5 of us in that class, and were allowed to have a television in there with us.

We were watching as the shuttle exploded. It took all of us a moment to realize what happened as we sat in silence.

Then went running across the hall to let the other classmates know what happened. The rest of the day was a blur. Everyone was horrified and numb.

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I was standing in the lunch line at school, and I can still remember exactly what we were having for lunch-ravioli and green beans-and the exact place I was standing when the principal announced that school was to be let out early as a sign of respect for those who died! I will never forget it!

Originally posted by Pindooca:
I was a sophomore at Penn State University and was watching the launch in the basement rec room alone.

Holy cow, you are really old.


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<FONT face="Script MT Bold">I know i was in lunch too- i think we had a TV in there. I cant remember even what grade i was in. Im not sure if we were let out early. Probably not /ubb/smilies/frown.gif</FONT f>

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"It is the end of the beginning"- President R.R.
<IMG SRC="http://community.webtv.net/SMG777/banner/scrapbookFiles/importD29.gif" border=0> http://community.webtv.net/SMG777/SIT

I was in grade 6, and we watched it on t.v. We had a moments of silence, then got on with our day. I still can't believe that we saw it "live". It was like a dream, not like it had really happened.

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I hadn't seen footage of the Challenger explosion till later that day (January 16, 1986).

I was in 5th grade. The only class in my school that actually watched it live on TV was the kindergarten, sadly enough.

The older kids were all waiting in the hallway for the bus-- we had a blizzard that day, and we were getting out early. We were all really confused when we saw our teachers hugging and crying in the halls: we thought someone in our school died, though we couldn't figure out how or why.

I'm surprised I haven't seen this topic come up yet.

That fateful morning on January 28, 1986, I was in the 6th grade (I think... been too many years and I don't want to do the math to figure it out) lining up after recess waiting to go back to the class room.

A teacher came outside where all of us were standing (several classes) and said the space shuttle had just blown up.

We spent most of the rest of the day watching footage of the explosion and listening to the news.

Actually Aaron, the thread has been posted before. Look Here (http://www.80sxchange.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000012).

No wonder I couldn't find it. That was posted 1 1/2 years ago.

It wasn't out in the open where I was looking.

Well that was pre-me so I was in the lunch room just getting ready to eat some of those wholesome steak fingers.

Saw the whole sorry episode live on TV as 'Shuttlemania' was still quite large in the UK....

Dreadful, really dreadful. And some of the details that emerged afterwards, like the NASA Engineers who protested about launching in such cold weather long into the early hours but were eventually overruled by the pressures of TV and Government.

And the poor Astronauts who actually survived the explosion and may have been alive as the cabin hit the sea. Awful. :(

One of Jean-Michel Jarre's best friends, saxophonist Ron McNair was on board Challenger and was due to be the first person to play in space.

Jarre's later 1986 album 'Rendezvous' and Houston concert was a tribute album to the astronauts of Challenger.

I was sitting in my high school home economics class, the sewing portion and a teacher came into our class in hysterics. She brought a TV from the library and we all watched the replay in horror. Both teachers began to cry as they remembered the teacher that was on board the shuttle along with all the others. Shortly after that, the announcement came on the PA system that we were being dismissed for the day.

I was in third hour of high school, Social Studies/Econimics. Our teacher came in and notified us of the tradgedy. His eyes were red and swelling with tears. This was a very strong man, and to see that expression on his face was horrible. My friends and I spent the rest of the day watching news coverage. I will never forget this!!

I was in my Earth Science class when I heard it had happened. I didnt believe it had happened because our teacher who told us had kind of a sick sense of humor and I thought he was joking. Once I saw it was for real I got this terrible headache and I cried--I juse couldn't think of anything else for a few days after that. I go to the school in Concord, NH that dedicated a planetarium to Christa when she died.

Yeah, this topic has been raised a few times. But, it was such a truly horrible 80s event that it warrants being resurrected every so often. I was also in school when it happened (how appropriate that most us were in school at the time it happened since there was a teacher on board). The teacher next door was showing the launch to her science class (they saw it explode live). She knocked on our door and told our teacher about it, most of the rest of the day we stayed glued to the tv set. I remember seeing a couple of teachers crying. It was really a sad day in the decade that we love so much.

Well you are all talking about being in middle and high school, I was barely in school when this happened, but I do remember. I was in Kindergarten! I remember watching everything on our big tv at school. :o

I was in my fifth grade class and we had an announcement come over the intercom, so we turned the tv on and we all cried for awhile and then got sent home..I remember it like it was yesterday even though I was only 11 years old..:(

I remember being in Trig when they made the announcement. My next class was Biology and there was a television in there and we mostly stayed in there a few periods.

Something I really regret about it, being on about 12 at the time this happened, is that I was one of many who made jokes about the Challenger crew. Very stupid.

Then again, at that age I didn't really understand what had happened and that those people were dead. When September 11 happened, that really hit me.

I'm much older now and understand these things much better.

I watched it live at home in disbelief. It was one of those things that made a big impact on me.

I wasn't in school at that time, I was 24 years old and I was at work. I remember hearing it on the radio while working. I couldn't believe it.

I was 10 years old and in the fourth grade.

In between classes at college playing euchre. Remember it well everyone ran to the library and just stared at the TV.

In grade # 5. Right around Easter break. It seemed too surreal to actually be happening. It seems like only yesterday.

It was my junior year in high school. I was in Home Ec. at the time when a student came in and told us what had happened. We had a large "commons" area in the center of the school with benches, so the AV dept brought out every TV and set all of them up in the commons and cafeteria areas. It was only 3rd period and most of us didn't really go back to our classes for the rest of the day.

I was in 10th grade in between classes. I remember it well, since its was such a buzz with the teacher in space program. I think there were students in the AV room who actually saw the broadcast then the word got around the halls. Crazy!

Wow, the anniversary is today, isn't it? (1/28/86) I'll repost what I wrote last year & expand on it a little bit.

I was in 5th grade. The only class in my school that actually watched it on TV was the kindergarten, sadly enough.

The older kids were all waiting in the hallway for the bus-- we had a blizzard that day, and we were getting out early. We were all really confused when we saw our teachers hugging and crying in the halls: we thought someone in our school died, though we couldn't figure out how or why. I still get teary-eyed when I see the video clips.

Here's a great site by the families of the Challenger (http://www.challenger.org/cc/cc_51.htm) crew, and their science education centers.

I didn't realize today was the anniversary. It doesn't seem like it was half my life ago that it happened. I still remember it quite vividly.

I was eight and mad that my after-school cartoons were pre-empted to show that same clip over and over. (yeah, yeah, I was evil)

Like many others, I was in school... 10th grade World History class when the principal announced it over the P.A. system. I think we were let out early but my mother wasn't able to get off from work early to pick me up so I spent the remainder of the day in the school library with so many others watching the events covered on TV.

It stands out in my life as one of those "defining moments", much like the Gulf War, the Fall of the Berlin Wall and 9-11.

I was a freshman in high school, and was in 2nd period, which was drama class. The period was almost over, when the principal came on the PA system, and told us about the horrible explosion. The atmosphere around school was very somber for the rest of the day, and so was the school bus ride home. All everyone wanted to do was talk about the tragedy, or just not say anything. I'll never forget that.

FONT=verdana]I was in grade 8. A few of us were having lunch when our friend, Danny, ran in from the science room, where he was watching the launch. He came in screaming, "The space shuttle blew up!" We were absolutely stunned. It was unthinkable. The rest of the day is a bit of a blurr.[/FONT]

I was in school. I can't remember if it was Elementary or Jurnior High. I think it was Elementary.

My class in highschool had been waiting all week to watch the launch. When it exploded we werea ll in shock. We thought that we were watching a movie and that what we had seen was not real. It took several minutes for the reality to set in. I will never forget watching that event. I have only felt that way twice in my life, then and Sept. 11.

I was in 8th grade Private(Catholic School) :angel: at the time, we were in Home room. Being the rebel that I was I had my walkman and headphones always with me . Since homeroom was basically a study period, I studied with my walkman and headphones on of course.
I was tuned into 93Q which was a pop station then, but there was silence ?!? and I knew my batteries werent dead,then I heard the DJ come on the air and announce the shuttle tragedy.
I went to my friends and said in disbelief to a couple of them...The Space Shuttle has just blown up!
And all of them were like : "yeah right ,haha very funny.
Of course they didnt know then other students ran in the classroom with confirmation of the very same announcement.
So I was the first to actually get the news where I was,simply because I wanted to hear the music.
I still am very close with few of these friends and we talk about that incident from time to time.


MM

I remember it well. I was in my senior english class, last class of the day. We were about to be dismissed when the principa came on the intercom and told us what happened, I remember the halls being so quiet.

I was in 10th grade & in home ec class. Suddenly our principal came over the loudspeaker & announced the devastating news.The whole school was in shock for the rest of the day.

I barely remember this, as I was only 4 and a half when it happened.

But, amazingly, I recall watching it on TV...what I don't recall is my mom telling me that I talked about it for months afterwards.

I remember watching the Shuttle explosion with my 10th grade Biology class. When it happened, we all just sat there like "HUH!!?" It was so unexpected! I don't really remember much of the reaction afterwards.

I was in preschool. I can't say I really remember too much about it, but I do remember it happening.

I was 23 years old at the time and I was at work. Being here in Florida and on the west coast, you can actually see the smoke trail from the space shuttles as they take off.
I remember going outside to watch it, and watching the 2 different trails of smoke. Someone came running outside to tell us that it had just blown up. We all kind of just stood around and looked at each other in disbelief. I also remember it being chilly.

Last night the space shuttle landed a little after 4am, as they come in off the Gulf of Mexico, they disengage, and you can hear the sonic booms. It's kindof cool, it always gives me chills!

That is a morning I will never forget.

I was in the 5th grade. We'd all filed into our math class, getting settled when our teacher had us move across the hallway into another teacher's room because she had a tv. I was sitting in the first seat, maybe 5 rows from the door and I was so excited because I couldn't believe we were actually going to see it live. As soon as she turned the tv on, we became quiet, except for a few who still whispered.

Anyhow, the moment it exploded, you could've heard a pin drop...dead silence. We turned to look at one another, wondering if what happened, had really happened. :(

About a week later, we all gathered in the front of the school to plant a tree in memory of the 7 astronauts who lost their lives.

Unfortunately I don't remember the disaster, since it happened several months before my 3rd birthday.

I was at home, waiting to go into the US Army in February.

I remember when it exploded. I was in 9th or 10th grade. We were all outside at lunch time having a smoke break and someone came running out to tell us about it. I still remember walking back in and looking at the TV in disbelief as it replayed and replayed and replayed. And guess where I work now?! *LOL*

My mom was picking me up for a doctor appointment, so I was walking across the high school's quad area. It was empty because it was before lunch-time. I was just leaving the campus when the announcement came over the campus loudspeakers. My mom and I just sat listening to the report on the car radio for a while...

My mom was picking me up for a doctor appointment, so I was walking across the high school's quad area. It was empty because it was before lunch-time. I was just leaving the campus when the announcement came over the campus loudspeakers. My mom and I just sat in disbelief listening to the report on the car radio for a while...

My mom, sister and I had all played hookey that day and stayed home...We watched it on t.v. as it was happening...it was so strange...I was in the 8th grade, I think...I just remember how shocked everyone was...the t.v. announcers...And we watched the coverage ALL DAY, hoping for news of survivors...

So sad:(

May God be with them all...RIP...:flag:

I thought I had replied to this one already but don't see it anywhere...anyhoo...

I saw it live on tv. I was babysitting and just flipping through some channels while the baby was asleep...

It happened my Freshman year of H.S. - I was in my Earth Science class, right after lunch.

I was a senior in high school. I don't so much remember where I was at the moment I heard about it as much as I remember my physics teacher was one of the candidates to go on the shuttle. Therefore I must have heard about it at school.

I remember that he was interviewed by one of the local news stations shortly after the Challenger exploded. Nothing like seeing television cameras in your high school.

it was jr. high- 8th grade. i had just skipped school, and a cop pulled up to deal with us when his partner who was listening to the radio said for him to listen. so we stood there well, Just Listening! didn't really hit me much till i got home and saw it on TV.
needless to say, i still got bust'd for skipping!

uglykid!!!

I was at school. They brought in a tv so we can see the news. All the smart kids were trying to explain what had happened to make it explode. Mine you that we all were in the 6th grade. Needless to say that they were are wrong. And the probably work for the National Enquire now.

I remember the time well. I was out with my friends at a local mall near my school (we had off campus lunches). I was actually out of school due to being on early dismissal (A fluke happened...I took too many classes the previous years, and had most of my elective points done!) and they were...well skipping biology. We stood infront of a large screen tv on display at a electronics store and saw the whole thing live!

We felt a rush of "HUH???" then "NO WAY"...then "OMG!". We couldn't belive what we had seen...and we all stood there, jaws on the floor not really able to utter a single word! I do remember that everyone in front of that tv had a hand on their chest (like when you get a big shock)...even the guys! No one cryed...we just stood there in shock!

We went back to school and they declaired the school closed for the day. We didn't share what we had seen till the next day we were so...dumbfounded! The rest of the day was kinda like being in a fog...I went home, and I think I just went to bed.

Things got a little easier the next day...I was able to talk about how I thought it was just one of the fuel tanks being deployed with maybe too much fuel in it...and then I realized it wasn't! Sharing my shock and grief with friends, and trying to make sense of what it was I saw...I still have a hard time seeing the footage!!!



:(

This was when I was about........21..........it was all just a blur to me at the time. I think Newsround (the BBC UK Kids News Programme) was extended at the time so that we could look at the full horror.

I was sitting in my 6th grade english class when it came over the intercom about it happening. We turned on the TV and watched all the news coverage about it. It was a sad day. I will never forget that day.

I was 11 at the time and wasn't in school that day for some reason. I will never forget the song that played on the radio after I had just seen the replays "Own The Night" by Chaka Khan. Doesn't relate much to the tragedy itself, but every time I listen to that song I think of that day. The whole thing was surreal.

On my wall hangs a picture and a poem in tribute to the Challenger Seven.

Had just got home from school (i live in UK) switched on the telly to find a shuttle launch on - which did surprise me as not often shuttle launches were shown on TV - but I was always interested in space, so i kept watching - only to see a terrible diasaster.

I was reminded of this event on 9/11 when watching those sad and terrible events unfold live on TV.

I was flat on my back on the couch with the WORST migraine on the planet when my friend Victor called and practically screamed for me to turn on the TV RIGHT THIS SECOND. Victor and I just sat there on the phone not saying a word, watching the replay over and over. It seemed like I aged about a hundred years in forty five minutes.

Not to take off on a tangent, but I think *that* moment more than any other in my life so far was my first real clue that the world was a scary place and getting scarier by the day. And so here we are now. To qoute Kid Rock, "Are you scared?"

I was still 7yrs old at the time and I Was at home Watching Something on TV Then It got interupted Cuzz Of the Breaking News of the Challanger Explosion

I had a summer holiday job at the hspital my Mum worked at. I just arrived at the hospital, on my bike, and an orderley told me he had just been watching the Space Shuttle blow up. I didn't know what he was talking about, and assumed he was joking. Then I went to the ward I worked on, and there was a TV on, and I saw the footage. Even though it all seemed really remote to me (being a teenager living in Australia), I still remember feeling sick about it.

I had left Middle Georgia College that day to attend a funeral in my hometown. After the funeral, I stopped by my house to change clothes. I flipped on the tube just in time to see the launch. I keep remembering mission control saying, "obviously there has been a major malfunction." It was surreal but also one of those moments that draw us all together on the same team.

I was home from school sick and I was downstairs in our family room/basement and I was watching TV when they cut away to the launch and then the explosion....I was shocked because my class in school had been hearing a lot about the teacher on board and how she was just a civilian not an astronaut and how cool it was going to be that she got to go into space. But then I saw it fall into pieces and the first thing I thought was about that teacher...I forget her name right now, but it was really, really sad. I went back to school the next day and my teacher was sort of a cold hearted insensitive snob lady and she didn't say much about the Challenger at all. But it will forever be a monumental event in my life along with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the fall of Communism, and the horrific tragedy that was Sept. 11.......God Bless The Challenger and all that have lost there lives in service.

Originally posted by Chameleon
I was in the 6th grade... we were watching it live because one of our teachers was one of the top ten runners-up to go on that mission, but she lost out. Very eerie to watch... even to this day...

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Amazing! I was in the 7th grade,and we watched it all unfold on tv...we sat there horrified. My teacher (from the previous school..I had just moved) was in the top 10 to go on that mission as well,and I think about that often. we were at NASA when he signed up,we had our field trip and they discussed the mission! (we lived in Houston,Tx at the time)

I remember walking into the school library and a bunch of people were crowded around a TV. I asked someone what was going on. I then learned that the Challenger had exploded.

I remember the explosion being shown over and over again

I was outside, watching the whole thing (I went to school in Daytona Beach, Florida, so it was quite possible to see all of this happening very often from Cape Canaveral). I remember all of us during lunch watching this in the parking lot and thinking 'Hmmm, that's not normal, is it?' After lunch, when we all got back, it was all over the television and a lot of people were crying. Very upseting news to all of us.

i was in elementary school and when i first heard of it i really didnt know what to think of it cause i had thought that it was a prank or something until i found out it was real then shock came in after time kept going by and everyone was talking about the seriousness of it. i still remember that day exactly like it had happened yesterday....such a sad day it was.

I remember I was in the 3rd grade and all of the classes gathered in one of the classrooms so we could watch the launch and we all started cheering when it first started off and then when it exploded everyone including the teachers just started screaming and shut it off. I just sat there not sure of what I had just seen really, not sure what it meant, I just knew that it was sooo scary. And I remember one of the crew members had been from the same town in NH that my sister went to college in, so I thought she may have known her. :( Ugh what a horrible sight that was:(
~Mary
http://img49.photobucket.com/albums/v151/MartyBrodeurFan30/Mary%20Sigs/sigdevils.gif

I'll never forget this. I'm from Tampa Florida and that day was so darn cold that we had to wear extrach sweaters and jackets. It isn't normal Florida weather. Because of this we were inside and watching the lift off. We were at Claywell Elementary. Our school was big on science. Then we saw it explode and we all ran outside. The day was very clear and we could see the cloud and how the boostters had split off in two. It didn't take long for the whole school to join us in the grass and we were all just staring up at the explosion. The news was different then than it is now. They covered the challenger explosion showing the parts raining back down into the ocean and followed the investigation for weeks. Now a days the news covers stories for one day only then moves on. It's really sad.

Our science class was watching the liftoff because of the teacher inside. As soon as it happened it was like our science teacher new exactly what happened and turned it off. I remember getting out of school early to go get my braces tightened and it was plastered over the TV in the orthodontists' office. What a bummer day that was.

I was attending a Technical College in Winston-Salem, NC, sitting in a calculus class when I heard about the Space Shuttle exploding. It was one of the most shocking things in my life up to that point because you have a certain amount of awe associated with NASA and there had never been a problem with a Space Shuttle mission. I remember driving home that afternoon, and of course the news was all over the radio. The DJ on my favorite station at that time dedicated the song "Silent Running" by Mike and the Mechanics to the crew of the Challenger and now I always associate that song with the event. I hate to bring up something so melancholy on a Friday but that's one of those big "Where were you"'s of the 80's.

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I was a sophomore in high school and I told my my was sick so I could watch the space shuttle Challenger go up, I was into that at the time. I remember sitting there on my sofa and watching it explode. I didn't know what was going on! I remember going back to school the next day and looking out of my world history class and looking at a building a mile a way with its flag at half staff. Thats the last time I stayed home from school to watch the space shuttle go up. :bigcry:

I was sick that morning and stayed home from school. My mom had just brought me some breakfast and i turned on my black and white tv in my room. I just went numb. I went out of the bedroom in a daze. I can never forget that.

We were watching it in class...and I remember you could hear a pin drop from the silence in our room. Sad day very sad day.

I was in Marine Corps boot camp. I'd been in about 10 weeks at the time with no access to newspapers, tv, or radio. We had been in the field for 4-5 days, and I can remember being cold, wet, and hungry. Someone mentioned it, but it never registered. I never thought about it again until after I was out of boot camp.

This is still a very vivid memory of course.

I was in the 7th grade. We were in lunch. One of those huge gym type lunch rooms. this teacher comes running in saying the shuttle had exploded. I busted out laughing. Why I have no idea, even to this day. Of course no one else was laughing. Perhaps just a nervous reaction or something. It .....was interesting to me....but in an abstract way. I was young. it didnt affect me personally in any way. I wasnt traumatized or anything........

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I was in my fourth grade class with my teacher, Sister Mary. We were watching it on tv for Social Studies. We saw the entire thing. Our principal sent us home for early dismissal b/c of it.

I was in the 6th grade and we watched the whole thing happen on the TV. They ended up taking out TV's out of our rooms after that.

I was in third period English class when I first heard of the shuttle expolding. At first I thought it was a bad joke then the teacher brought in a t.v. I will always remember how quiet the school was the rest of the day. One of the kids had planned a senior stunt for that day and he didnt do it because of the shuttle. I was a junior at the time.

I was at work ( Dunkin Donuts ) getting ready to end my shift. I can remember the look of horror on everyone's face. It was definately tragic !!!! I really felt for those families !!!! :( :cry:

I was in seventh grade and I had just walked into the library for studio hall and saw everyone surrounding the TV. They had just started to watch the shuttle preparing to take off. I saw it crash a few minutes later. It was a little traumatizing. They let us all go home early that day...I couldn't help but feel saddened for several days. I'll never forget that day in my life.

I was a sophomore in High School, was in 2nd period english class, huffing liquid paper, when it was the good stuff. They had announced it over the intercom system

I just came in to the lobby at the American Hotel in Wiesbaden Germany and I casually looked up at the TV and thought nothing of it until they showed it explode. My mouth just dropped and I fell forward catching a big wood railing and stood there stunned for about a minute or 2.
I was in the Air Force then and I heard more and more about it over the comming weeks. That was a sad time. I also appreciate what Ronald Regan said on National Television that night. It was very elequent.

It happened when I was in school, what class I had I can't recollect but we were all shocked and the rest of the day we only talked about the explosion and the people that were killed.

I was in High School probably skipping off because i remember watching it at the local Pinball Arcade

I was in Hutchinson, Kansas. I was living with a jerk I met after high school and moved out there with him. We went to the Cosmosphere in the same town, a space museum, and there was a huge paper roll for people to sign their condolences, and it was to be given to the familes of the astronauts. I remember seeing stupid crap like "Lisa Loves Mike" and other rubbish on it.

I was at school and they had to have a moment of silence for that, I was too young to watch the news or whatever, but I did have a moment of silence for the Challenger ship. I had seen the ship blow up in the middle of the sky later on. I was pretty saddened by it. May they rest in peace

I remember that day.........

It was horrible...

The staff at my school round up every TV we had and everything stopped so that we could watch the launch. It was a big deal for the school because of the teacher, Sharon Christa McAuliffe being the first such to be included in a shuttle mission. To say that all in attendance were in shock would be an understatement. The students, after fully realizing that the shuttle had indeed exploded began to cry but one of the things that sticks out in my mind most of all was the site of our teachers, some of whom were thought to be harsh, unfeeling tyrants, forcing themselves to leave the room because they didn’t want us to see them cry.
All of Canada wept that day as if they were our own. Godspeed to the crew of the Challenger; rest in peace. :rose:

1986,so i would have just about began Year 8. I remember there was a huge buzz about the first teacher being in space. I also remember the look of horror on the Reagan's faces when the disaster happened. I think i was still a little immature to fully grasp what i saw. Then i remember the media analysing what went wrong, like September 11, over and over and over r.i.p.

I was a senior in high school and only had to attend half days. I had a job at a local grocery store so I was in a rush to get home and get changed for work.

My dad worked swing shift at the base so he was home during the day.

As I walked in he looked really upset, the tv was on CNN, I asked what was the matter and he said, The Space Shuttle just exploded. I was in disbelief as well, and had a hard time concentrating the rest of the day.

Me and my dad had just recently built a plastic model of the 747 and the Columbia. He built the 747 and I did the shuttle, then we mounted them together. (shortly before the disaster)

A sad time for sure......

I was a Freshman in high school. We came back from lunch to hear about it. Then they rolled the TV's into the classroom and we viewed it. Terrible thing it was.