Memes

The crew didn't blow up(src).

The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 feet before arching back down into the water. The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then.

We were led out of our classrooms to watch it since we lived in FL. When the launch went pear-shaped, nobody really understood what had happened, we just thought it was part of the fuel tanks dropping away. We went back in, sat down and continued our day. I don't think the teachers ever told us something went wrong and I found out about it that night at home.

Turns out risky business has risks.

The interesting thing isn't how many fatalities NASA has had but rather how few they have had. Exploration has always gotten people killed.

The soviet space program took fewer lives than the US's program, yet the US constantly made it seem like it was the soviets that didn't care about human lives.

You know who could have been on that shuttle instead of a teacher? A Muppet.

https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/HistoricalWhatIf/comments/12wrrit/what_if_big_bird_was_on_the_challenger_space/

https://youtu.be/vF-vrL0htbE

I was only 4 years and 4 months old, I can barely remember anything of that time.

But when Columbia was en route to enter the atmosphere, I was outside on the front lawn watching, since it was re-entering over my area of Texas at a pretty favorable viewing angle.

I was so fucking happy to see such a momentous occasion...until it started breaking up. I knew something was wrong, but my brain couldn't piece it together, until the ship started breaking apart into visibly distinct fireballs. It passed over the horizon, and I was stunned. I ran back into my friend's living room, and continued watching the coverage, now very sombre.

It was 17 years and 4 days after Challenger. I was 21. That shit is burned into my memory. Especially since 9/11 was less than 18 months prior, which I also watched live.

i wasn't born back then, but i remember watching a punky brewster episode rerun when i was a kid that was about it. probably the first time i heard about the challenger disaster.

Could have been worse. They wanted to send Big Bird.

Also, I wasn’t in kindergarten yet or I’d have seen it. I think this is a core Gen X memory that Millennials don’t have.

It was a snow day. A neighbor saw it live from his huge-ass satellite dish. He called to tell me it blew up, and I thought he was taking the piss.

I watched it in person, sort of.

I was living on the Florida Gulf Coast at the time. From the Gulf Coast, a shuttle launch was just a bright bead drawing a thin line up from the horizon, so it wasn't any sort of spectacle, but it was something interesting to watch if you happened to be outside, which I was.

And it was obvious even from there what had likely happened, since the bright bead suddenly flashed, then went out, and the line went off sideways.

My entire school was gathered in the cafeteria for the event, televised live.

We were all sent home for the day (some took the week) in the ensuing chaos.