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Challenger: The Final Flight

FROGMAN524

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It’s pretty good. I wasn’t born yet but I’m sure some remember when it happened. Did you see it happen?


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MrMayhem

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Yep. History before my eyes. So sad. So emotional. Brought the country together in a time of tragedy.


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MrMayhem

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At high school GF’s house. Watched it with her parents. Was a big deal and humbling.


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RiverDave

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Was in school and we all watched it in a tube tv.. I remember when the smoke trails split. Our teacher was saying everything is ok, and I was thinking “we have watched several launches and that never happened before.”

Really sad deal.. and yes it was a national tragedy.. everyone was emotional about it.
 

Boat 405

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Yep remember watching it on tv at school. Good friend of mine worked for NASA when it happened. Said it changed a lot of things after that.
 

Hallett Dave

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Yep remember watching it on tv at school. Good friend of mine worked for NASA when it happened. Said it changed a lot of things after that.

I was at work at Edwards AFB. I remember watching on the NASA Dryden feed to Ridley Mission Control at Edwards wondering if the mission would be a once around orbit and recovery at Edwards. During those days I did all the RADAR vectors for the NASA T-38 to safety chase the Shuttle to landing at Edwards.
I remember total silence in the control room. A very sad day.
 

lbhsbz

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I watched it in school...I was 5. I remember commenting to my dad that maybe the missle launch button was next to the gas pedal and the driver might have have stepped on the wrong one with those big boots.
 

monkeyswrench

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Saw it in school, was a big deal, teacher getting to go to space. Sad, but with great risk there can be great reward. Every astronaut is in the edge of reality, spending every moment in orbit on the edge...
What risks are worth taking to make history? Few will seek the opportunity, fewer will get it. As I got older, I thought of it not as a loss, but more a sacrifice they were willing to make.
 

beerrun

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I was at coast guard air station Astoria picking up a van for the guys to transport that were involved in hypothermia testing that we were doing at Cape D they had it on the TV in the hanger I didn't think it was real
 

DLow

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I watched it at school also. 6th grade. Although it was a tragic event, I’m glad I saw it happen live. I’d watch every mission launch with my dad if it wasn’t during school hours, no matter what time the launch took place. The baby boomer generation understood the importance of the space race. It would be nice if our schools still let kids watch things live that show America’s ability to lead the world. Sadly, those days are, for the most part, long gone.
 

boat 569

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I watched it from the roof of a building on Cocoa Beach. I was going to eat my lunch and watch the launch but it was freezing and I almost climbed back down. Witnessing that is something I’ll remember the rest of my life. I’ve watched hundreds of launches and witnessed a few spectacular explosions but knowing that there was loss of life on Challenger was a very somber moment.
 

River Runnin

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I worked with Greg Jarvis (spacecraft manager) on Leasat for about a year and a half before his flight. He was actually bumped from his original mission flight. 😞
 

FROGMAN524

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I worked with Greg Jarvis (spacecraft manager) on Leasat for about a year and a half before his flight. He was actually bumped from his original mission flight. [emoji20]

Yes he was bumped twice I believe and one of those times was by Senator Jake Garn of UT.


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Wolskis

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Was in the Navy docked in San Diego. Came out of the engine room and everyone was heading to the mess decks where the TV as located. Sad day.
 

DMF

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I was in eighth grade history class and we watched it live. The teacher that was on board taught at a school a few miles down the road from us. It was a big deal leading up to the launch because she was a local.
 

PDQH20

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Was at Hughes Aircraft Co. and heavily involved with shuttle missions at the time. It was an especially sad day, much like Kennedy in Dallas, 9/11 and other tragidies except we all had a vested interest in that flight. Really brought home the risk involved in each and every mission.
 

t&y

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Yup, watched it live at school. We used to watch all the launches at school. That was a huge deal because of the teacher aboard (Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe).
 

thmterry

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I was in Florida at the time and saw a bunch of space shuttles launch. I was watching Challenger from a 7-11 parking lot and when it exploded I remember thinking "This looks different then all the other launches I have seen" Only took a few seconds to realize what had happened, very sad day.
 

nameisbond

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I was 13, but didn't see it live. Was in Canada and we didn't watch launches on tv. Saw it on the news when I got home from school.
 

was thatguy

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I was a little late for work that morning so didn’t have the news on tv before I left. I was hurrying.
When I got to work (machine shop) everyone was in the office watching the tv.
I couldn’t believe it.

To this day I can sill picture the looks on Christa McAulliffe’s parents faces as they knew immediately they just lost their daughter.
The change on their faces from immense pride (and worry) to the very depths of sorrow in the blink of an eye imprinted itself on me forever.

Of all the images from that day, that’s the one I see perfectly.

I was 24 yo.
 

renodaytona

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I watched it in the class room. TV's were turned off shortly after the explosion. Had to wait till I got home to hear the full story.
 

havasujeeper

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I was in the police academy at the time, and saw a replay of the Challenger explosion as we double timed past the Drill Instructor's lounge. The DI's said we needed to think about this tragedy for a long time, so he decided that we needed to have a 10 mile "pride run" up the hill to the Nike Base Silo site and back. Yeah, I'll never forget that day!
 

nameisbond

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This event and Reagan being shot are the two news stories from the 1980's, I remember the most. Ok maybe the Berlin Wall coming down too. For Reagan being shot, I was only 8 at the time.
 

FROGMAN524

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I was in the police academy at the time, and saw a replay of the Challenger explosion as we double timed past the Drill Instructor's lounge. The DI's said we needed to think about this tragedy for a long time, so he decided that we needed to have a 10 mile "pride run" up the hill to the Nike Base Silo site and back. Yeah, I'll never forget that day!
Which academy?
 

Jed-O

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I was in Kindergarten at the library of Charles Hoffman Elementary in Running Springs, CA (same old town I live in today). We watched it happen on a maybe 19" tube TV on a cart. After the explosion we were escorted back to the classroom with a explanation of the incident. I think it was tougher for the teachers than it was for us.
 

Rayson1971

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I was in eighth grade pe class standing on stairs waiting for teacher and the principal came over the loud speaker . Was very sad and there was supposed to be the first teacher up there which made it even worse.
 

The Prisoner

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Saw it live. The big take away is how so many smart engineers could be so callous. The engineer Roger at Morton Thiokol warned them about the orings In cold weather. NASA was just wanting to stay on schedule.
 

jesco

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Watched it live at school, tough day for sure. My in laws moved to Laguna Nigel in the early 90s and one of their neighbors was "the fall guy" for the failure.... He ended up later proving it was not his fault and got a bunch of money due to it totally ruining his name in the aerospace industry. Super nice guy, said it destroyed his family and ruined his life for years until he cleared his name and got paid out. He didn't even care about the money, was more about saving his name and legacy. I guess he was pretty influential in the program and was devastated they ruined his name and accomplishments.
 

zx14

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I was on my way to mt.lukens above pasadena , Shanna on KLOS at the end of a song says, space shuttle challenger, blows up, more after these words, like any other commercial break, I thought it was a joke, until I flipped over to kfi
 

The Prisoner

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Damn Netflix.....they do have good stuff but everytime I sign up I forget about it and just waste the money. May have to re up to watch this.
 

Duramax

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you will learn a lot.. they go into a lot of detail in it..
Out of the thousands of unknown variables they can encounter in space, here they actually know the problem, and still push forward.

They survived the explosion.
 

mobldj

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superbowl the day before.i won 3 quarters of the pool at work so i called in sick.laying watching it on tv when it happened.rip.all because of o rings.was a good show on netflix
 

The Prisoner

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I remember the congressional hearings with Richard Feynman and all the manufacturers. Does the series get into that??
 

Duramax

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I remember the congressional hearings with Richard Feynman and all the manufacturers. Does the series get into that??
Yes. NASA was still not coming forward with the oring issue, until it was brought up in a hearing.

After the first launch was scrubbed because of a stripped screw on the hatch, nobody thought the following days launch would happen since a cold front came in that night and plunged temps down into the 20's, further lessoning the chances of the orings holding.

They were pretty much doomed, and when they went for throttle up (104%+), it came apart.
 

havasuhusker

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I just started watching the series. It's been good so far (2 episodes in). I remember sitting on the couch at home and watching this. Such a sad ordeal. I don't think I quite comprehended the magnitude of it at the time as I do now.
 
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