24 years ago today...

[pamlicojack]

Never forget:

"We shall never forget them nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their mission and waved good-bye and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God."

[Dave W]

Damn. Hard to believe it's been that long. 

[gweimer]

My wife remembers watching the whole thing live on TV with the kids.   I remember it on the radio at work.

[GonzoBass]

I remember watching this on TV.
Live.
Because Ellison Onizuka was a local boy.



RIP to all these courageous explorers.

[godofthunder]

Such a tragedy, may they rest in peace. I was in Boston. I worked at a antique restoration shop me and the owner were having lunch at the pub next to the shop, saw the whole thing on the TV. Very clear it was catastrophic. I remember feeling sick.

[Highlander]

I was watching the launch - a very clear memory...

The belief was that they survived the explosion and died on impact with the sea - one of the small trails you can see at the base of the picture is the "capsule" they were in... every astronaut that launches knows the risks, right back to Grissom, White and Chaffee - their memorial at Kennedy is a beautiful and moving sight... rip

[lowend1]

I was at work also - in a Midas Muffler shop of all places - and the TV in the office was on. Surreal...

[SKATE RAT]

I WAS  IN THE 8TH GRADE.

[Pilgrim]

I watched it while standing in a little computer shop on the second floor of a building across the street from the Texas A&M campus.  Everyone stopped what they were doing...and just stared.

[Dave W]

The VP of our company had a TV in his office. It was one of those things you know you saw but didn't quite believe. Every time they replayed it I kept hoping something different would happen.

[uwe]

The VP of our company had a TV in his office. It was one of those things you know you saw but didn't quite believe. Every time they replayed it I kept hoping something different would happen.

Well-put.

[eb2]

I was in college.  I remember watching it and wondering how it could happen, with it being NASA and on TV and all.  The next morning a prof who was more left of center than the rest opined that the lives lost were not worth the press coverage vs lives lost in El Salvador, and that in ten years time no one would remember.  Most of us were both angry at that, but somewhat reflective.  On the former point, more or less he was accurate.  On the latter dead wrong, as this thread proves.

[OldManC]

I was living in England at the time and in my shock was fascinated to see the reaction of those who weren't connected by a flag to the tragedy. My friends there wished me and my fellow American missionaries condolences as if it were a family member who had died. I also saw a little schadenfreude in some of the rougher elements we ran into, which was hard to ignore. I remember seeing a lot of anger at the U.S. over foreign policy, among other things, and the U.S. Embassy ended up sending out travel warnings within a month or two over the fuss. Not connected to the Challenger disaster but, as Americans in a foreign land (even one as seemingly similar as England), anything about the U.S. reflected on us whether we liked it or not and the Challenger tragedy ended up being a part of that narrative. R.I.P to those brave heroes.