23 years ago today: Challenger

I was 12 and was skipping school that day. I can't remember what I was watching, might have been a game show, when it cut away for coverage of the disaster. I turned it off and went to Wendy's down the block.

 

Senior year of high school. Irony of ironies, Contemporary American History class. There was a knock on the door, our teacher poked his head out to talk to the principal for a moment, then walked over and turned on the television without saying a word.

One of our science teachers made it past the first cut for the Teacher in Space deal; he was so shaken, he ended up going home early. Quietest I had ever heard that school while classes were in session.

And 23 years later, the "slipped the surly bonds of Earth" line still grabs me by the throat every time.

 

I was a sophomore in college. Walking from one class to another, I see a guy that lived down the hall from me. He says, "Did you hear? The space shuttle blew up." I said, "Yeah, right," and kept walking. I started thinking, OK, that's probably not something he would be joking about. By the time I got to my next class, everyone was talking about it.

I remember when I got out of my class in the early afternoon, the local newspaper, which was a PM but on the streets by noon, had already published a second edition with a huge headline, photos and a story. Today, there's no way they would do that. They're an AM, and printed at another newspaper in the chain 100 miles away.

 

Maybe it was because it was AFN, but I remember watching it live. I was huge in to space shuttle stuff as a kid. And I was in Germany and just got home from school to watch the launch.

 

Didn't find out until I got home and saw the special report on CBS. Thought to myself "well, it was bound to happen." I was the kid who lost it over a dropped sandwich but took the biggest things in stride. Come to think of it, I still am.

Once I heard Reagan, it took hold.

 

I was in third grade. The teacher had me run an errand to the school office, and the secretaries were watching the coverage on TV. While I was in there, they were showing the early parts of the flight (pre-explosion) and I just glanced at it and saw the huge flames shooting from the engines.
I thought it was video of Halley's Comet.
Found out when I got home a couple hours later that it wasn't.

 

Until skydivers start pulling the chute 10 feet from the ground, I guess we won't know.

 

I think people mean that they saw the coverage of the explosion, not the live launch. The only place we could watch TV in my junior high school was the library, and after the explosion, I remember seeing a crowd of people a dozen deep trying to see the TV on one of those little runner things.

I'm among those who believe this was the JFK for Gen X (at least until 9/11). I was seven when Reagan got shot, and remember where I was, but fortunately he didn't die. This one was the communal tragedy for people in my age bracket.

I was in science class with a teacher who was well-known for being a wise-ass. He walks out right before the end of class, talks to a teacher and walks back in and says "The Challenger blew up."

I said "You're making that up." He said "I would never joke about something like that."

Next class was Music, and to get there we had to walk past the media center, where I saw the afore-mentioned throng. We knew then it wasn't a joke. Our music teacher apparently applied for the position McAuliffe won (or wished she had applied for it, one or the other) and was hysterical. Me, being a stupid 12-year-old, said "Well we're glad you weren't up there." She runs out crying. Stupid me.

Went home, shoveled the next door neighbor's driveway and then watched the coverage. I remember my dad, who didn't usually react one way or the other to the news of the world, standing and watching TV intently. Sad day.

 

I was in sixth grade and our class was using the only TV/VCR in the school when the librarian comes running in, unplugs it mid-video and whisks it down the hall. Our teacher had to go ask what was going on and she told us. Eventually we were able to go into the library and watch the coverage.

 

Talk about something interesting.

 

You first.

 

This about sums up my experience. I was in fourth grade and home for a snow day. My sister and I were playing Monopoly or something and watching the Price is Right when they cut away. I remember thinking that it was some crazy commercial or something with skydivers for a few seconds before I really figured out what was going on. Don't think I'll ever forget seeing those two trails of smoke.