Hi,

I was reading through some of the posts and one that stuck out above the rest was "where were you when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded?"... Weird... I haven't thought about that in years!

I remember quite clearly now... I was in high school. My fifth period class to be exact. I was so shocked and shaken by hearing the news, one would have thought I had family aboard. I don't know, to hear about such a tragedy rendered me speechless and actually put fear in my heart for sometime to come (especially in terms of flying). It also made me think about life, death and all those questions we as humans have about God.

WOW, I hadn't thought about that disaster in ages!! I believe it was this disaster and the movie "The Day After," that really frightened me as a kid and made me wonder if in fact I would make it through the 80's!

Sorry if I've gotten too deep into this (really I'm not like this at all)... The Challenger post just brought back memories and got me thinking.

Thanks,
Tracey http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//smile.gif
Ricktopia (Another Rick Springfield Website) (http://www.ricktopia.com)

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"Ever since I was a kid I remember having dreams of grandeur I was going to be someone... I know what I want." RS Living In Oz '83

<FONT COLOR="#6699cc" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by rsfanhere on 04-01-2001 at 12:50 AM</font>

The day the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, I recall that I was home from school. There had been a snow storm the night before (this occured in February), and school had been cancelled for the day. The day turned out to be bright and sunny but bitterly cold, and I remember being bored. The TV was on in the background, but I had watched so many Space Shuttle launches by this point, that I wasn't interested. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the explosion on the television screen, and the big cloud of smoke. I couldn't believe what was happening. I called my best friend at home, and we sat there on the phone together, in relative silence, watching the coverage. It just didn't seem possible. I also remember feeling very sad for the students of Krista McCaullif, the teacher who was on board, and how horrible it was for them to be watching this occur on television at their elementary school.

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Buy My Book!!!

I believe I already mentioned this in an earlier post... I was actually there when the Challenger exploded... it was the first time that my class was selected to go to the Kennedy Space Center... we all thought that it was part of what happens when the space shuttle takes off... but all the adults were gasping and I remember being horrified... I knew something was wrong... and I immediatly thought of Krista (the teacher) as well...

it was a beautiful day outside... and all of the sudden... everyone was gloomy.... we had to go back to school.. and we talked the rest of the afternoon about what had happened..
That's alot to deal with as a kid... I know that her students were just lost when that happened.. http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//frown.gif

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ROCK AND ROLL!!!
SAL IS A FREAK!!!

Later!! Tina

I remember being in 9th grade and it was during my woodshop class when the news started spreading through the school of the Challenger exploding, I took it hard. I was a big fan of the space shuttle and NASA (yes I was a geek then) ever since I got to watch the very first shuttle launch at school when I was in 5th grade. I felt I knew all the crew members and Krista after following the news leading up to it (they were like celebrities) After the accident I cut out every article on the disaster I could find in the newspaper (even bought the tribute magazines) I collected them for about 2 years until they resumed the launches. I lost the whole collection about 8 years ago during a bad break up with my ex-girlfriend......I miss my collection of clippings, women can be so cruel. http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//frown.gif

Brent

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I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
~Pablo Picasso

I remember I was in the 8th grade when it happened. The class I was in at the time I didn't get to watch the blast off. When the bell rang to go to the next class, I had some friends who had watched it in there classroom. A very terrible tragedy. To this day I do not have much faith in the space program.http://www.80sxchange.com/ubb/smilies//00sad.gif

I remember this perfectly, I heard it on the radio of my 84 Nissan Truck while parked on the corner of Hollis and Lower Water Steet in Halifax Nova Scotia. I think around noon time.

<FONT COLOR="#6699cc" SIZE="1">[ May 25, 2001 05:24 AM: Message edited by: caligulia ]</font>

The day the challenger Went down i was in surgery for a tonsilectomy, i was coming up from recovery just in time to watch the launch, even in my drugged state that sucked, but at least ill never forget when my surgery was!
May the Challenger 7 Rest In Peace

I was in the 5th grade at the time, and my teacher had brought in a television so we could watch the launch in class. It was horrifying! We were all kind of numb that it happened.

Lora

I was in 6th grade, I was in the computer lab and the instructor wheeled in a TV for the news coverage, I think I remember being just very shocked.

I live on the east coast of Florida. Like most other people, I went outside to watch...the contrail from the explosion seemed to hang over us all day long. Not too long after the explosion, an announcement went out (not sure if it was on tv, radio, whatever), and everyone drove with their headlights on for the rest of the day, out of mourning and respect. To this day, almost no one takes a launch for granted. Even rocket launches, after some of the explosions we've had!

I was in sixth grade english, busy being jealous of the fifth grade science students who all got to watch it on tv while I was writing a paper. The main science teacher in fifth grade was really gung ho on the space missions. He had put in to be on the shuttle and was very rattled he didn't get chosen. He was kind of a badass in his own way and not prone to showing emotion. He almost stumbled into our classroom, and we were the first in the school who weren't watching it to hear the Challenger had exploded. He was on the brink of crying. He was flipped out that it exploded, but he also had that "wow...and I wanted to be on it" thing going, too.

By the way, rsfan, I didn't know there was anyone else on the planet besides myself and Rick Springfield who remembered the song "Living In Oz." You rock!

hey, i know that one by Rick Springfield, too! lol
i love it!
his music was necessary for the 80's.

It was evening here when we received the message of that tragic event.

I was in 10th grade (school system is a bit different here, we count the classes through regardless of the school), and we had a week-long political education about 20 miles away from home. We stayed the nights there, and so we had visited the only bar with a pool billiard that evening.
A TV set was running muted in the background, as we suddenly noticed the newsbreak with a very hectic newscaster. I couldn´t believe what I saw, as those pictures were so surrealistic in my eyes. The folks in that bar were more interested in their next beer, so I bought a newspaper the next day. If this had happened during the "D1"-mission (with German astronauts), they would´ve been surely more interested...which confirms the theory about the further away such catastrophes, the lesser the impact.

It was a long-time talk here in Germany, and for me it was the first time I had thought about the other sides of technology.

A German TV-station features a nightly special called "Space Night", and from time to time, they repeat the events on that certain day, with documentations about how this could have happened.

All the memories about that week came back at once when I´ve read it here in this board...

I was in Grade school and we were watching it on T.V. A sad day! <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

Strangely enough, I was on the toilet. I was sick and stayed home from school (7th grade). When I came out of the bathroom, my mom told me that the shuttle had exploded. I still remember how the news reporters kept grasping for any hope for the crew's survival. They would speak of fail safes and escape pods. A very sad day indeed.

I was in third grade and we where in the hall way changing classrooms when my home room teacher came out crying hysterically. Noone knew what was going on until a few minutes later when the bell rang and they told us and we got sent home early. It is very sad to me know, but in the third grade, I didn't really understand.

I was at work. Shortly before lunch I was in the middle of the shop when one of my co-workers came in and told me. I'll always remember that moment as much as when Nixon resigned. Am I old or what? :cool:

On the day the Challenger exploded, I was at home (instead of school). However, I didn't hear about the Challenger explosion till sometime later that day. I just don't know how long, though.

In the '85-'86 school year, I was in the ninth grade--and a student at Whitten Junior High (now Middle) School.