How is this for feeling old - Challenger blew up 20 years ago tomorrow
 

For me itis one of the most defining days of my generation and certainly in my personal life.

I remember exactly where I was when it happened and what I was doing. I was one of the first people to know in my school because I was in the nurses's office when it happened and she had the radio on. I went back to class and told the teacher and he called me a liar in front of the whole class and never said sorry the next day. Somehow from that day and the little thrill I got from 'breaking' a story I got the journalism bug which effected the rest of my life.

I can remember listening to Regan's radio address on the way home from school in my mom's radio and my babysitter saying it was humans being punished by God because we had no buisness in space.

Assuming you are old enough to remember 20 years ago..what are your memories?

Hrmm... I was like, 7 years old, soo..........

yeah.

Yup..I feel old now

Was 10 when it happened, we were watching it live at school, classes were stopped so we could see it.

Watched it in class, and i remember they sent us home that day.

When Reagan was shot i was at home, not sure if i was sick or what but i saw it happen on tv also.

Hard to beleive how long ago it all was.

I grew up in Florida, pretty close to Cape Canaveral, so we would actually stand outside and watch it go up.

I was pretty young at the time, 6th grade I think.

I was between classes (was going to be late) and saw it happen live on the tv in the library. Stunned I went to class and told them what happened. My english prof sternly stated I was not funny. Ten minutes later we were having a hug in per our sixties generation teacher.

I was in juinior high and didnt believe it either - it was definately one of those "yeah right" moments - sad day for america.

Might not get much action in this thread, most of GFY'ers probably weren't born yet....LOL

I remember I was home sick from school...I didnt really know what happened at the time "where did it go?"

This is the first I've heard of it!

:Oh crap :Oh crap :Oh crap

I was in 2nd grade I think. Anyhow, I do remember it. We watched it happen on television. I don't think any of us really registered what was going on right away

Wow what a warped attitude

I was in jr high when the announcement came out and the school played the news footage on the CCTV system they had.. The new class bell rang and everyone just kinda went to whatever teachers class they wanted and watched the news for the entire day.. We were one of the schools that was supposed to have the "lessons from space" by the teacher that was going up also so there was alot of hype about the shuttle launch prior to it going down.

I was in third grade and I think we had a half day for some reason..maybe snow.

Yeah, she was a special person. Another memory of her is her docking a dog's tail in front of me when I was five.

i remember I was in school and we watched it live....

yep, i remember. elementary school, we were watching it live in the gym. will never forget it.

I wasn't born yet when that happend, so this realy only makes me feel young.

However, the fact that its almost 4.5 years since 9/11 makes me feel old..
I remember just getting home from school when the extra newscast started..

I was 7 years old, and I remember it pretty clearly. Sad shit.

wow time sure passes by quickly

I watched it on TV, 13 I was at the time :(

I was only 6, don't remember that day.

hmm, I was like 3 years old sooo :upsidedow

It was the day my mother told me to forget becoming an astronaut.

My mother is a science teacher and had really thought about applying. Needless to say that day we were glad she didn't.

I was only 5 but I remember it, it made me afraid to fly.... obviously I've gotten over that by now...

I remember watching it on live tv. At the time I worked for an IBM subcontractor and couldnt help but wonder if just perhaps, some of the circuit boards we built were used in any NASA computers, which I seriously doubt.

I didnt see it

I was in like 4th grade. Our teacher was out so we had a substitue who's husband worked for NASA. He was outside watching it go up (you could see it from s.fl) when it happened and ran in, we looked out the window and turned on the TV. My father got it on video camera from our house. It was horrible and for a long time I thought it was the worst tragedy this country would have to face for a long time. Then there was 9/11. Then we lost Columbia. :( Such horrible things we X'ers have seen so young.

I was cutting class and smoking pot with my buddy and we heard about it on the radio

Lived in Melbourne at the tame which is just south of Cape Canaveral.. Was watching the launch out of my 7th grade history class window.

Damn now I feel really old.


I lived in FLA when that happened and watched it live. It was really horrible. :(

I was in grade seven and they had brought a tv into our classrom specially so we could watch it live. I remember the whole room being silent after watching it blow up. The teacher quietly turned the tv off and rolled it out of the room. I can't remember how she handled it after that, I only remember the silence. We were old enough to know what had happened.

LOL I love how most people here heard about it in elementary school etc...me. I was already 19 out of school and legally of age to drink..giggity giggity.

Yes it was 19 in the state of Texas then.

Man ... 20 years already?? Challenger is the big "big disaster" i can remember growing up .. my "where were you when ... " moment

Sad that I say "I was around for both challenger and columbia"

Time for a better way ... go SpaceShipOne!

twinkley

I have an original challenger crew poster in my baby book (because I was a baby when it happened)

i was like 4-5 yrs old then lol i dont remember shit.

i was 4 years old. Remember watching it on tv though

I also remember this very well. I was a teacher and several of us had gathered in the teacher's room to watch the launch because teacher Krista McCauliff was on board. I know we talked about showing it in our classrooms and I'm glad we didn't. I remember my friend and I seeing the explosion and looking at each other and saying, what was that? And then silence I think from the TV announcer and then some chaos and then the confirmation that it had been destroyed. I think there was some back and forth saying, no that was just a rocket, not the main ship. It was all very confusing. I cried and everyone in the room cried and it was hard to go back to class and explain it to the kids..

Yes, I thought it was the most terrible disaster I had witnessed up until 9/11

cyn

i was only 6 then, and I don't remember it... The first time I remember school being stopped due to news was when I was in 6th or 7th grade when daddy bush's first war broke out. The next time was the columbine shooting when I was in college -- we were in a lecture hall, and the teacher put it on the projector screen instead of having class.... Then of course 9/11 -- was early here on the west coast, so I woke up to the news.

boy, i feel great remembering all of this now. not to early for a drink, eh?

I remember watching it.. I was in the 4th grade.

The current docs on the History Channel keep showing the few seconds of the close up of JFK Jr. duing his speach. F--ked up association.

ouch bet she loved that

If it means anything to you you look younger than that

what is strange is that when it comes up to the big markings of 9/11 I will say I was on GFY when it happened. I started the first thread on that too...challenger and 9/11 I am a real messanger of good fortune.

People seem to think I'm about 27-28 at most 30.

I'll be 40 this year. My only answer that I can come up with is all the fat from McDonald's and Donuts has kept my skin supple and shiny...LOL making me look younger.

us fatties have less wrinkles..there has to be some trade off

haha so true.

same here - i was 6 when that happened.

remember very clear watching it on TV.