On this day, 25 years ago-Challenger Shuttle Disaster

[Feuer Frei!]

ON this day 25 years ago, the world tuned in live and saw the launch of the space shuttle Challenger go horribly wrong.

The seven crew members — including school teacher Christa McAuliffe — died instantly as the shower of flame and smoke filled the Florida sky.
ONE minute after takeoff, Challenger reached a height of 9 nautical miles, a speed of 2900 feet a second and was about a mile off the Florida coast over the Atlantic.
ONE minute 15 seconds after takeoff Challenger exploded.
THE fireball became a trail of smoke as debris showered into the sea.
"Vehicle has exploded... we are awaiting word from any recovery forces down range..." came the voice of Mission Control just over a minute after takeoff.

The other crew members were: Commander Francis R. Scobee, 46; Judith Resnik, 36; Ronald E. McNair, 35; Ellison S. Onizuka, 39; and Gregory B. Jarvis, 41.
McAuliffe, 37, was handed an apple for the teacher as she entered the shuttle. Her parents and 18 of her students watched the launch from the ground at Cape Canaveral.
It was the first in-air disaster in 56 US manned space missions. Three astronauts were killed in a 1967 launch pad explosion during the Apollo program.
The $1.7 billion shuttle was under full power when the flash of flames and smoke could be seen in the sky.
President Reagan was not watching the takeoff live but was told immediately and went to a television set to watch rescue operations.
The mission's job was to release and retrieve one satellite to study Halley's Comet and launch another to become part of the space-based shuttle communications network.
All data including the debris had been impounded.
The review board would include senior members of NASA. A formal board would be set up later.
The investigation would include the impounded notes of the launch team.




Let us remember that fateful day, and remember those poor souls who vanished that day.
R.I.P.

[kiwi_2005]

Yea I remember watching that on TV. A rushed job by NASA. :nope:

Video
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/4594319/Challenger-horror-lives-25-years-on

[CCIP]

And in just a couple of days, the 8th anniversary of Columbia...

Astronauts must always be brave. What they do is really pushing human limits and limits of technology too - and sadly, there is a price to pay for that. It's tragic that they had to pay it...

[Betonov]

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."
astronauts and kozmonauts, last of the true pioneers.
I miss those times, even If I wasnt born then (I was born one month before challenger, exact to the day). People were optimistic despite the mushroom cloud hanging over their heads, everybody dreamt about space and colonies on moon and mars. But today is a sad world, the winner of the american/germany(kenian idol is more important than the improvement of our species and discovering new grounds for us to expand

[Gargamel]

I remember, for some reason, I was home (sick?) from 2nd grade that day.

The Columbia event, I was doing chest compressions on a patient in a dialysis facility. Saw CNN on the TV as we rolled by, and I forgot about the patient. Stared at the TV for a bit until my partner yelled at me. Eventually got the lady back.

[krashkart]

I remember kind of staring at the TV when that happened. I was still in grade school at the time, and Christa McCauliff could have been any teacher at our school. That was quite the tragedy back then. Her students were watching the liftoff that day at their school, IIRC.

[HunterICX]

Wasn't born at the time, but remember seeying a television program about the accident...still it causes a chill down my spine when I see it happening.

HunterICX

[Blood_splat]

Amateur video of the challenger.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD0F1FZ2bMw

[Skybird]

Still remember to havbe been somewhat stunned by both disasters. I was a schoolboy when the shuttle program was under developement, it was almost science fiction, it was "Hey - can you believe it! Incredible!" I still have a very well done radio feature of two hours on cassette, the docu stuff illustrated by original recordings of the sounds at various NASA installations, command centres and construction halls. Listening to that made that young boy flying far away in his mind.

To imagine that not only the shuttles are to be decommissioned, but have no adequate, modern replacement - hard to get used to that thought.

[Gerald]

I remember it like it was yesterday, RIP

[AVGWarhawk]

I was in the student union building at the University of MD, College Park. I noticed a few girls crying. I looked at the TV that the building had mounted here in there and watched the replay of the explosion. I then understood why several girls were crying. Sad day.

[Growler]

I was out shoveling snow from an unexpected snow day when a neighbor pulled up across the street and yelled across to me, "Hey, did you hear the shuttle blew up?"

Now, this guy had a reputation for, shall we say, "General posterior haberdashery," so I just kind of laughed it off as him being his usual jerk self: "Yeah, OK, whatever." He persisted: "No, really, I'm serious." And then I understood the look on his face.

I remember going in side, turning on the TV, and there it was, being replayed on network news special reports.

Not that I remember that day clearly at all.

I remember in the days following, how people who were alive when Kennedy was killed were comparing Challenger's loss to that, and how that day would enter itself into our national memory. I never expected to lose two spacecraft in flight in my lifetime.

On a purely interesting note: Challenger was lost the day after my sister's birthday. NASA resumed flight operations with Discovery on my birthday.

[razark]

I was in fourth grade at the time. I remember one of the teachers running into the room and telling us. It was a very sad day for our community. We weren't watching when it happened, but I will never forget seeing the endless replays on TV when I got home that day. My father was friends with Ellison Onizuka, and my sister played on a soccer team with his daughter at the time. He also knew several of the other crewmembers.

The seven crew members — including school teacher Christa McAuliffe — died instantly... ONE minute 15 seconds after takeoff Challenger exploded.I wish it had been that simple; it would have been better for the crew.

There was no "explosion". The SRB damaged the tank, which started breaking apart. The tank failed, releasing the fuel, which caused the fireball. It was more of a very quick burning of the fuel. The orbiter vehicle itself was not destroyed by the fireball. When the tank broke apart, the orbiter was turned sideways into the airflow, which tore it apart. The crew cabin separated from the rest of the debris, and subsequent investigation discovered that control switches had been moved from normal flight settings, and emergency oxygen supplies had been activated. At least some of that crew were aware there was a problem, and were alive when the cabin impacted the ocean.

:salute: to those brave men and women, of Challenger, Columbia, and Apollo 1.

[breadcatcher101]

I was at that time a quality control inspector in the shuttle program.

There were several factors involved that led to the loss, some technical and others political.

It was a very special day for us, very busy and somber.

[Takeda Shingen]

I was in grade school when this went down. I still remember hearing the announcement and watching the news in class.

[Sailor Steve]

I was in grade school when this went down. I still remember hearing the announcement and watching the news in class.
It came about six months after my divorce. That ended up being a very depressing year for me.

[sharkbit]

I believe yesterday was the 44th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts.

I think people, in 1986 and now, get complacent on how dangerous space travel really is.

[yubba]

I was standing on top of my garbage truck at the county landfill could see the pad and omg. My landlord work for NASA at the time, as a recovery diver, he told me some grizzily details.

[razark]

I think people, in 1986 and now, get complacent on how dangerous space travel really is.
Exploration has always been a dangerous business. Always will be. The people who choose to fly know the risks, and they choose to do it anyway.

[Armistead]

Geesh, has it been that long. I can remember exactly where I was...

[Gargamel]

I believe yesterday was the 44th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts.

I think people, in 1986 and now, get complacent on how dangerous space travel really is.

Especially in late January. Not a joke, It just seems odd to me.

[breadcatcher101]

Especially in late January. Not a joke, It just seems odd to me.

The two shuttle losses can be tied to low tempertures at launch resulting in seal failure and excessive foam loss from the external tank.

As for Apollo 1, I suppose it just happened to be in January. I don't remember it as well, was pretty young.

[Platapus]

I was working the swing shift at Offutt. We came into work and people were talking about the shuttle exploding. We did not believe it... until I got home and turned on CNN.

I think I watched CNN for about five hours straight 0000-0500 in disbelief and sorrow.

It is strange but for this 25th anniversary, multiple websites are posting video clips of the accident. I have not opened a single one. Don't need to. I can still remember everything. :yep:

I can now understand how old guys can talk about how they remember everything about where they were when JFK was killed. :yep:

[Tchocky]

I remember it like I wasn't born at the time :)

That said, have spent many hours picking over the story of what happened as part of a course on operational decision-making, it's all the more harrowing for knowing the ending in advance.

We came into work and people were talking about the shuttle exploding. We did not believe it... until I got home and turned on CNN.

The closest I can come to that feeling is when Concorde crashed at CDG. My dad woke me up to tell me (it was early morning in CA), I told him that Concorde doesn't crash, so why was he waking me up?

[Growler]

It is strange but for this 25th anniversary, multiple websites are posting video clips of the accident. I have not opened a single one. Don't need to. I can still remember everything. :yep:


I can still see it, too, as clearly as the day it happened.

I did go back and watch Mr. Reagan's address that evening, though. It is still a powerful 5 minutes.

Tchocky - I remember thinking the exact same thing: "Concordes don't crash." It was unimaginable.

[Sailor Steve]

I can now understand how old guys can talk about how they remember everything about where they were when JFK was killed. :yep:
It's an odd part of human nature. People die all the time, and as catastrophes go the Challenger was fairly minor. But when something is so public, so visible, it affects us much more deeply. Thousands are starving, or die in an earthquake somewhere, and I think "That's too bad. I wonder if I can do something". But one famous man is murdered, or seven complete strangers die on camera, and my heart stops, and I remember it for decades.

Just questioning my own attitudes, and wondering why we see things the way we do.

[Growler]

It's an odd part of human nature. People die all the time, and as catastrophes go the Challenger was fairly minor. But when something is so public, so visible, it affects us much more deeply. Thousands are starving, or die in an earthquake somewhere, and I think "That's too bad. I wonder if I can do something". But one famous man is murdered, or seven complete strangers die on camera, and my heart stops, and I remember it for decades.

Just questioning my own attitudes, and wondering why we see things the way we do.

One useless death is a tragedy; one million, a statistic. (A paraphrase, but the essence of the meaning is there.) I don't recall who it was who mentioned that the human brain just can't conceive - can't mentally picture - large numbers (beyond, say, 100,000, for the sake of argument). We're just not wired to comprehend numbers that large. We can see a stadium of 75K people, so we can sort of see the effect 75K people have on a local sense. But once the numbers get too large, our brains just go, "Uh, wut?" and sort of shut down that measurement part. Many of us have experienced death on individual scales, personal and impersonal, but on the individual, small-scale. Maybe the guys who could best tell us about "bodies stacked like cordwood" are the guys who discovered the concentration camps, or the guys in Soviet Russia who cleared out Stalin's millions of dead.

The concept is so difficult to try to describe.