1-28-86

[tower912]

Challenger exploded.    Sophomore year, moving from Carpenter Tower 901 to Tower 912 after roommate issues.   Watching the coverage while moving my stuff and then going off to a J-class to discuss how we would have covered it/written it.       A sad day.    May those heroes rest in peace.  30 years have flown. 

[StillAWarrior]

Challenger exploded.    Sophomore year, moving from Carpenter Tower 901 to Tower 912 after roommate issues.   Watching the coverage while moving my stuff and then going off to a J-class to discuss how we would have covered it/written it.       A sad day.    May those heroes rest in peace.  30 years have flown.

Junior year of high school...heading into math class.  We were excused to go down to the library and watch the news coverage.

[jesmu84]

Assuming I was waddling around my parent's second house.

No recollection of the event.

Glad I could contribute.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

I was in 3rd grade at a small Catholic school.  Because of the teacher on board, the Challenger Mission was tied to our science unit, (there was a contest to name the shuttle, interviews with Christa McAuliffe in Junior Scholastic, etc).  I don't remember how, but we were able to watch the launch live in the library.  Chicago and the suburbs went from the hysteria of the '85 Bears championship to mourning within two days.

[MU31]

Freshman living at McCormick.  Returning from class, maybe 20-30 people were in McCormick's lobby watching the launch on the TV there, so I stopped to watch as well. It was hard to believe what had happened at the time.

[RushmoreAcademy]

I was in 3rd grade at a small Catholic school.  Because of the teacher on board, the Challenger Mission was tied to our science unit, (there was a contest to name the shuttle, interviews with Christa McAuliffe in Junior Scholastic, etc).  I don't remember how, but we were able to watch the launch live in the library.  Chicago and the suburbs went from the hysteria of the '85 Bears championship to mourning within two days.

I also remember them playing it live at our elementary school.

[MerrittsMustache]

I was 5. We had just traveled to Florida around Christmas and went to Cape Canaveral and saw the space shuttle on the launch pad from a distance (admittedly, I don't know if the Challenger would have been out there a month in advance or if it was another or how that all works).

As a result of seeing a real live spaceship, I was obviously big into the launch and watched it with my mom, while playing with my mini space station prior to going to afternoon kindergarten. I also remember it being a HUGE deal in school for my older brother since a teacher was going into space.

I very clearly remember seeing the shuttle "blow up," hearing my mom gasp and then asking if that was supposed to happen before I started to cry.

Sad, strange day.

[wadesworld]

Roughly 3 years from birth.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I remember well.  I was in high school in in Mr. McLaughlin's Chemistry class when word broke.  He stopped and put the classroom TV on to play the news and discuss.

[keefe]

I knew the Command Pilot of the Columbia. Willie McCool was a Prowler Driver and quite simply one of the finest men I have been privileged to call a friend.

In a strange twist, two other mutual friends are airline pilots and they were shooting approaches into DFW that morning and saw the fireball. One of them ran track with Willie at the Academy.

The men and women who strap rockets on their backs and head off into space are the best and the brightest. 

[jficke13]

There's no better way to honor the memory of those heroic pioneers than to push farther to the skies:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/26/boeing-builds-the-most-powerful-rocket-ever-made.html

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

There's no better way to honor the memory of those heroic pioneers than to push farther to the skies:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/26/boeing-builds-the-most-powerful-rocket-ever-made.html

Pretty incredible how far space travel has come, huh? Weve sent a probe to take pictures of Pluto, a telescope more powerful than the Hubble is being completed. Really remarkable stuff. The universe is so damn vast you gotta imagine that there's life out there somewhere.

[MerrittsMustache]

Pretty incredible how far space travel has come, huh? Weve sent a probe to take pictures of Pluto, a telescope more powerful than the Hubble is being completed. Really remarkable stuff. The universe is so damn vast you gotta imagine that there's life out there somewhere.

Not to get off-track but what was actually accomplished by taking pictures of Pluto?

[Spotcheck Billy]

it got demoted from Planet?

[Benny B]

Second grade... my teacher's husband walked into the room late morning and whispered something to her.  She excused herself from the classroom, and a few moments later, she returned with the TV/VCR followed by the other second and first grade classes (along with the morning K and pre-K kids).

For those of us born between 1960-1980, I think that was our "Kennedy" moment... I recall 1986 with more clarity than 9/11.  Heck, I know I was at work, but I don't even remember the moment I learned that a plane had crashed into the WTC.

I do, however, recall exactly what I was doing 13 years ago (-4 days) at just before 9:00a with extreme clarity as well, so maybe it's just my fascination with spaceflight.

[Spotcheck Billy]

I was working at the same job I currently am, I vividly recall my day in the office on 9/11/01 but not 1/28/86. I do recall many Challenger tributes at Mardi Gras that spring.

[wadesworld]

Second grade... my teacher's husband walked into the room late morning and whispered something to her.  She excused herself from the classroom, and a few moments later, she returned with the TV/VCR followed by the other second and first grade classes (along with the morning K and pre-K kids).

For those of us born between 1960-1980, I think that was our "Kennedy" moment... I recall 1986 with more clarity than 9/11.  Heck, I know I was at work, but I don't even remember the moment I learned that a plane had crashed into the WTC.

I do, however, recall exactly what I was doing 13 years ago (-4 days) at just before 9:00a with extreme clarity as well, so maybe it's just my fascination with spaceflight.

Your experience of this is oddly similar to my experience of 9/11.  Instead of the teacher's husband, it was our computer teacher walking into our "homeroom" (in 7th grade) and whispering something into her ear.  A few minutes later she turned on the TV and depending on which class we were in, we watched the footage live or just went on with class as if nothing was happening.  I remember they announced that we would have "indoor recess" that morning, but then changed their decision.

[Coleman]

Not to get off-track but what was actually accomplished by taking pictures of Pluto?

Maybe not much, but you don't know until you go. Kinda how exploration works.

[CTWarrior]

I was working at the same job I currently am, I vividly recall my day in the office on 9/11/01 but not 1/28/86. I do recall many Challenger tributes at Mardi Gras that spring.

That's me.  I remember Challenger, but back in 1986 we heard it through the grapevine at work, no internet yet, so it wasn't all-conusming.  Didn't see video, etc. 

9/11 on the other hand, I remember vividly, particularly since I had a few friends and relatives who worked near the WTC, so I was worried for them.  All of them were fine, thank goodness.

[muwarrior69]

Not to get off-track but what was actually accomplished by taking pictures of Pluto?

I hope you are the exception of your generation. I still find space exploration exciting. Perhaps in the not too distant future we will send rovers to the Saturn moon Titan to actually confirm that it has vast frozen "oceans" of methane which to future generations could be a valuable energy source. Like John Kennedy, whose assassination still is vivid in my memory said, "We go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard." He also said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Many Democrats and Republicans have forgotten that. It may not seem like much but now we know we CAN take pictures of a far away planet and gain further knowledge of Pluto and our solar system which some day may benefit mankind in the future.

[jficke13]

Not to get off-track but what was actually accomplished by taking pictures of Pluto?

Every piece of information we can learn about our solar system and the celestial bodies in it is one more piece of information that we will build on as we eventually send explorers beyond low earth orbit. Imagine if Columbus knew exactly how many nautical miles were between Spain and the New World, or what the climate would be when he arrived, he could have prepared differently for the journey. Pictures of Pluto might not "accomplish" much beyond fill in pieces of our knowledge of what's out there, but one day that understanding, or more likely the things we've yet to learn that will rest on that understanding, will come in handy.

[Jay Bee]

I was in 5th grade... in trouble. I had been sent to the library for in-school detention. There was a TV there and the principal came in to turn it on and watch coverage..

[MerrittsMustache]

Maybe not much, but you don't know until you go. Kinda how exploration works.

I hope you are the exception of your generation. I still find space exploration exciting. Perhaps in the not too distant future we will send rovers to the Saturn moon Titan to actually confirm that it has vast frozen "oceans" of methane which to future generations could be a valuable energy source. Like John Kennedy, whose assassination still is vivid in my memory said, "We go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard." He also said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Many Democrats and Republicans have forgotten that. It may not seem like much but now we know we CAN take pictures of a far away planet and gain further knowledge of Pluto and our solar system which some day may benefit mankind in the future.

Every piece of information we can learn about our solar system and the celestial bodies in it is one more piece of information that we will build on as we eventually send explorers beyond low earth orbit. Imagine if Columbus knew exactly how many nautical miles were between Spain and the New World, or what the climate would be when he arrived, he could have prepared differently for the journey. Pictures of Pluto might not "accomplish" much beyond fill in pieces of our knowledge of what's out there, but one day that understanding, or more likely the things we've yet to learn that will rest on that understanding, will come in handy.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the responses. I mean, you didn't change my belief that the space program is an enormous waste of time, money and resources but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

[GooooMarquette]

I was on break from school, visiting my girlfriend in Miami.  We headed to a local mall to do some shopping and were walking through the Sears electronics department when we saw a crowd around the TVs.  A few people had been watching live, but most (including us) gathered as they were showing replays.  A few "oh my Gods", but mostly silence.

5 days I remember like yesterday:

First steps on the moon (5 years old - listened on radio with family)
Nixon getting on the helicopter leaving the WH (Dells vacation - saw on TV as we were heading to pool)
1/28/77 (I was there live)
Challenger disaster
9/11/01 (just got back from morning run and it was on TV)

[Coleman]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the responses. I mean, you didn't change my belief that the space program is an enormous waste of time, money and resources but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

lolz

http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/11/is-space-exploration-worth-the-cost-a-freakonomics-quorum/

https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/tech_benefits.html

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Benefits-Stemming-from-Space-Exploration-2013-TAGGED.pdf