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20 years of remembrance

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It was 20 years ago this past Saturday, January 28th that the space shuttle Challenger disaster brought home the reality of the dangers of space travel and rocked the foundations of the NASA program.

People from my parents generation talk about what they were doing when President Kennedy was shot. For my generation this was one of the big disasters that cemented its memories on our collective consciousness. In 1986 I was a junior in high school and was in biology class when the tragedy occured. Schools around the nation had live feeds of the shuttle liftoff due to the fact that Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, was to be the first teacher in space. McAuliffe was chosen out of 12,000 educators who had applied for President Reagan’s teacher-in-space program. I remember being so shocked seeing this

and realizing that it was not a joke and that all seven crew members were dead, including a teacher who had captured the hearts and imaginations of students everywhere. We spent most of the remaining school day watching coverage of the disaster and talking in hushed tones. It was a sad, weird school day.

I obviously love science fiction, however space, the stars, and the real space program hold equal fascination to me. I am proud of all we have accomplished in our explorations of the universe and look forward to many more exciting discoveries thanks to the passion of dedicated men and women like those who gave their lives two decades ago for their dreams…and ours.


In Memorium: Ellison S. Onizuka, Michael J. Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Gregory B. Jarvis, Ronald E. McNair, and Judith A. Resnik
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There is an interesting article on 7 myths concerning the Challenger disaster here.

21 thoughts on “20 years of remembrance”

  1. I was at work, at Hanscom AFB, when I found out. To this day, it’s very hard for me to look at the pictures of the explosion. So very sad…

  2. I’ve no idea where I was. 20 years ago, I was almost 7, so that explains my lack of details. But I do remember it happening, and the coverage on the news.

  4. I was a junior at Ruskin High school and we were in the library. It came on the 200lb. 19-inch t.v. on a 6 foot stand (details) and we just watched. I remember thinking “Is this live?”. Very sad. My yearbook did a full write up on it.

  5. I found it interesting on the ‘myths’ link that many people believed they saw it happen live when really only a limited few with cable and those in schools actually saw it live…most saw it when the news broke immediately after the tragedy. We did a write up in our yearbook as well.

  6. I just read where baby jessica got married. Remember that one in 1987? She got stuck ina well and they dug a parallel tunnel and got her out. Yahoo has a story on it.

  7. I barely remember. I would have been in kindergarten. I’m almost positive that we all were in the library at school watching it. I don’t really remember much else about it.

    I do know where I was when the Columbia disaster occurred (Feb 2003). Mike and I were on our way from Lenexa to Omaha to see off his parents from the airport. I was surfing through the radio stations and I got to a station that was covering the shuttle re-entry. We were listening to the countdown for re-entry and nothing happened. That was so sad and horrible to listen too. They didn’t know what had happened. We listened to that radio station for most of the day.

  8. Yes, I read about baby Jessica this morning Tom…doesn’t seem like it should’ve been that long ago!

    I was working at the group home on the day of the Columbia disaster and watching that on television was like having flashbacks to ’86!

  9. I remember that day very well, and exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was in the car, driving through Worthington, Ohio, with my baby in the back in his car seat. The radio was going, and they broke in to give the news about the Challenger. At first they said there was just a “problem,” but minutes later, the announcer said it appeared that the shuttle blew up. I pulled over and cried.

  10. I was a freshman going to Lighthouse Christian.

    I was home sick watching tv and called it to the school when the news broke.

    They didn’t believe me at first.

  14. I watched the CNN Presents segment this weekend on Christa McAuliffe and wept through the whole show. I realized that I was holding my breath when they showed the liftoff, just as on the day of the accident when they showed that loop over and over and over again. I think it took all those replays for everyone to understand that it had actually happened.

  15. I wish I had known about that, it would’ve been something I no doubt would have enjoyed viewing.

  16. I wasn’t even in school yet when it happened, so I have no memory of the actual even…by the time I was old enough to learn about it, we had to look it up in “history” books.

    A few years ago, I remember reading a story about a teacher who came in second…how sorely disappointed he was not to go up in space, especially since he trained alongside her, and was there the day of the launch, in case they should need an alternate. He watched her go up, envied her madly, and then watched her die.

    Very sad stuff.

  17. I vaguely remember hearing that Jay…its not that Christa’s death is any more terrible than the others, but that was their job. For her it was a once in a lifetime experience and you had to know that she and her family were probably worried but knew the odds were against anything happening. I can’t imagine how much of a shock that had to be for her immediate family, to watch her life end mere seconds after liftoff. I’m sure that guy was thanking God and feeling guilty for doing so that it wasn’t him up there after all.

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