|
|
Post by Yubon Peatlejuice on Jan 27, 2016 6:40:05 GMT
I'm a day ahead in posting this since the disaster was on 1/28/86. But I've spoken with others my age about this and we all seem to remember watching the disaster live from our classrooms. I'm not sure that is actually the case because it was only televised on cable. Maybe we heard about it in class before-hand (on of the teachers in my school was a finalist) and afterwards and watched news coverage. I'm not sure.
Anyway, where were you?
May they all RIP. Columbia too.
It's also the 30th anniversary of the movie Space Camp. I feel old. DS and I are going to Space Camp later this year though.
|
|
|
|
Post by PolarGreen12 on Jan 27, 2016 6:59:37 GMT
I have so many feelings and memories tied to this disaster.
That day I was in Kindergarten, but my Mom had taken me out for the day as it was my Gramma's birthday and she wanted to drive to the Arkansas River and watch the bald eagles and have a picnic lunch. It was cold but blue skies and we saw lots if eagles. We got back in the car to drive home and Gramma turned on news radio to see if there was info of the shuttle launch. I remember her crying the whole drive home. My Poppa and her were avid followers of the space program, they even drove to launches a few times. That launch having teachers on board he felt ties to being a teacher himself. He was proud of them. I still have the signed copy Dave Simpson gave to her of his drawing of the Bald Eagle with tears in its eye and the night sky with 7 bright stars representing the astronauts on board. My Gramma died 15 years ago, just a few days before her birthday. Ever since my Mom and I still go see the Eagles for her.
Crap now I'm crying. Ugh I need a drink.
|
|
|
|
Post by jenis40 on Jan 27, 2016 7:28:22 GMT
It must have been televised over regular network tv because I watched it in my teacher's living room. (I went to a small rural school that had an apartment for the teacher in the basement.) I was in the 7th grade and I remember the shock. Our teacher hustled us back up to the classroom quickly.
ETA our small town didn't have cable so I'm pretty sure it was on regular tv (i.e. antenna).
|
|
anaterra
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,842
Location: Texas
Jun 29, 2014 3:04:02 GMT
|
Post by anaterra on Jan 27, 2016 7:34:53 GMT
I also watched it in class... i was in 4th grade... i think most classes we're watching...
|
|
|
|
Post by Delta Dawn on Jan 27, 2016 8:13:51 GMT
My Mom and I watched this on TV that day (I must not have had school or something). We were watching because Christa (the teacher) was the first woman and person going into space who was just an average person. She was going to teach her class from space? It's been a long time...but I do remember sitting there watching the TV and we both started crying.
RIP to all the Challenger Heroes. You are not forgotten!
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 11, 2024 16:11:26 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 8:17:24 GMT
I was just pulling into the parking lot at work and had the radio on. I sat there, tears streaming down my face, for the longest time. When I finally went into the office no one knew what had happened as we didn't have radio or TV in the office. |
|
theshyone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,410 
|
Post by theshyone on Jan 27, 2016 8:36:13 GMT
I'm a day ahead in posting this since the disaster was on 1/28/86. But I've spoken with others my age about this and we all seem to remember watching the disaster live from our classrooms. I'm not sure that is actually the case because it was only televised on cable. Maybe we heard about it in class before-hand (on of the teachers in my school was a finalist) and afterwards and watched news coverage. I'm not sure. Anyway, where were you? May they all RIP. Columbia too. It's also the 30th anniversary of the movie Space Camp. I feel old. DS and I are going to Space Camp later this year though. I was at home getting ready late for my college class, I ended up even later. As I walked in the professor was giving me a hard time. I told him what happened. The whole class him included went down to the cafeteria to watch. As word got around more and more came down. It was standing room only around these few small sets in a packed cafeteria. |
|
BarbaraUK
Drama Llama
Surrounded by my yarn stash on the NE coast of England...............!! Refupea 1702
Posts: 5,961
Location: England UK
Jun 27, 2014 12:47:11 GMT
|
Post by BarbaraUK on Jan 27, 2016 9:29:51 GMT
The spacecraft launches and missions were televised fully in the UK and I was watching Challenger and remember just staring in disbelief at the screen when the Shuttle broke up a few seconds after launch - and the absolute silence from the commentary team which seemed to last ages but which must just really have been seconds.
The disaster shocked and saddened people watching or hearing the news here.
|
|
|
|
Post by hop2 on Jan 27, 2016 11:08:03 GMT
Could not have only been cable because I was watching it live and did not have cable in my college studio. A bunch of us were gathered around the TV watching. I'm sure the networks stations carried just the lift off. Pretty sure it was NBC or cbs we had on. The higher the channel number the more static we got in the rabbit ears so I guess either of those which at that time and location was 2 & 4. I mean maybe I'm wrong and it was another person's tv in my studio class and they had cable, it's been a long time.
The point of sending Christa Mcaulife was to do televised teacher spots that children in classrooms would watch. She was picked specifically because she related to children better than others in the running. So many schools had prepared to carry her broadcasts, there was even one segment made in the weeks before lift off about preparation. Cable or not, many children in schools across the country at that time were watching, That was the whole point.
My 8th grade science teacher was on of the final 3 candidates and the tragedy destroyed him.
|
|
tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
|
Post by tuesdaysgone on Jan 27, 2016 11:11:22 GMT
I was in college and had just left the library. I ran over to the Student Center and hundreds of students were gathered around the TV.
These memories do get burned into our mind. I can still see myself standing on the second step of the library and can recall the face of the boy who told me the news.
|
|
IAmUnoriginal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,894
Jun 25, 2014 23:27:45 GMT
|
Post by IAmUnoriginal on Jan 27, 2016 12:07:40 GMT
It had to have been on network TV. My elementary school didn't have cable in classrooms. I was in 6th grade. The 5th grade teacher brought his class over to our room and wheeled in the TV cart that was shared between our two classrooms. We were supposed to be spending time together each week watching the lessons broadcast by Christa McAuliffe while she was on the shuttle. Our little lift off party fell silent and took a turn. I remember the looks on our teachers' faces and the principal rushing across the hall ( very small school - he was our 3rd grade teacher in the afternoons) to discuss if they should turn it off or let us continue to watch. The tv was moved to the hallway between classrooms and we could go watch it or stay in our rooms and read, play games, or mess with art supplies. No lessons for the rest of the day.
|
|
|
|
Post by anxiousmom on Jan 27, 2016 12:17:27 GMT
I was in college at the time, going to a local community college and was briefly living at home. I was home between classes and work and was watching on tv as it happened. I remember sitting there in absolute shock.
I grew up in the period of time where space travel had gone from almost zero to the shuttle in what felt like no time. The idea that something could happen to the shuttle was almost too much to consider-it never occurred to me that it could be destructible.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 11, 2024 16:11:26 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 12:21:37 GMT
There was no cable in my small town in 1986. There were some classes at my elementary school that saw the live coverage.
|
|
raindancer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,095
|
Post by raindancer on Jan 27, 2016 12:22:44 GMT
We had a contest or something for the 4th grade class that got to watch it live, so it must've been network. But our class didn't win so we were in class. At some point our teacher left the room and when she came back she had been crying and she gave us the news. We saw it later in the library media room, I remember distinctly seeing it happen in a nees report at school, but it could have been at home. I was only 10 and our memories of events like these are almost never correct.
There are a lot of studies that have people record their activities immediately following a tragedy or major event and then ask them to recall it years later and the memories almost never match what they recorded. Our minds are funny things.
|
|
|
|
Post by scrapsotime on Jan 27, 2016 12:25:36 GMT
We were living in Apopka, Florida. Dh had come home from work because they said it was too cold to work outside that day. We watched on TV until it was high enough to see from our front yard. I knew immediately that something was wrong before we heard on TV back in the house.
|
|
peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,610
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
|
Post by peabay on Jan 27, 2016 12:29:35 GMT
Having lunch in my sorority and we all ran into the living room to watch CNN.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 11, 2024 16:11:26 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 12:31:22 GMT
|
|
anniebeth24
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,544
|
Post by anniebeth24 on Jan 27, 2016 12:33:28 GMT
I was in AP US History class, 12th grade. Our teacher came into the classroom and made the announcement. 30 years, wow.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 11, 2024 16:11:26 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 12:37:46 GMT
I admit to not readily recalling what I was doing when I first heard the news. What comes to mind(being at my inlaws house in Texas watching tv with my fil) doesn't square with the reality of where I was living (North Carolina) This late in January would have been a strange time to be visiting although that is a possibility.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 11, 2024 16:11:26 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2016 12:37:51 GMT
I was working in the Canary Islands with my husband. I didn't watch it, but word spread around the water plant. Everyone was so shocked and upset, and they were very kind to us, being the only Americans in the group. Christa was very closely followed here -- she grew up in the town we were living in at the time.
I remember thinking what a great idea it was for an educator to give lessons to children from space, and how much I would have loved that when I was a kid.
|
|
tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
|
Post by tduby1 on Jan 27, 2016 12:38:38 GMT
I'm a day ahead in posting this since the disaster was on 1/28/86. But I've spoken with others my age about this and we all seem to remember watching the disaster live from our classrooms. I'm not sure that is actually the case because it was only televised on cable. Maybe we heard about it in class before-hand (on of the teachers in my school was a finalist) and afterwards and watched news coverage. I'm not sure. Anyway, where were you? May they all RIP. Columbia too. It's also the 30th anniversary of the movie Space Camp. I feel old. DS and I are going to Space Camp later this year though. School. Ninth grade. Someone busted into our classroom and told us. Rumors were my 8th grade science teacher (a male) cried. I think they did wheel tvs into the rooms for us to watch the after-coverage. |
|
tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
|
Post by tduby1 on Jan 27, 2016 12:39:56 GMT
It must have been televised over regular network tv because I watched it in my teacher's living room. (I went to a small rural school that had an apartment for the teacher in the basement.) I was in the 7th grade and I remember the shock. Our teacher hustled us back up to the classroom quickly. ETA our small town didn't have cable so I'm pretty sure it was on regular tv (i.e. antenna). Was this in a one room school, in 1989? I've read there were several here in the thumb of MI up through the eighties and there are still a handful left. I find the idea fascinating.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bridget in MD on Jan 27, 2016 12:52:32 GMT
I also watched it in class... i was in 4th grade... i think most classes we're watching... me too! I can remember someone asked if it was a joke, and my teacher got really upset at that question, he was so upset himself. |
|
|
|
Post by peasapie on Jan 27, 2016 12:55:54 GMT
I had taken my son and his friend outside on his baby sled. We came in to the news on tv.
|
|
|
|
Post by jen on Jan 27, 2016 12:58:18 GMT
Everyone in my high school was watching it live in every classroom. I remember being in the office as an aid that period and a kid walked in and told me what happened, crazy!
|
|
|
|
Post by just PEAchy on Jan 27, 2016 13:01:30 GMT
I was a senior in college and it was Career Day. I came home for lunch and all my roommates were huddled around the tv. We watched the rest of the afternoon. I'll never forget the look on Christa's parents faces as the realization dawned on them what had happened. The news showed that clip over & over. So very sad.
|
|
|
|
Post by auntkelly on Jan 27, 2016 13:02:33 GMT
I was in the student lounge at law school. Someone burst in and told us what had happened, so we turned on the television and huddled around it until we had to go to class.
I will never forget Reagan's speech that night.
|
|
tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
|
Post by tduby1 on Jan 27, 2016 13:07:37 GMT
Am I reading the article correctly? It sounds like the launch was broadcast live but all of the network stations had already cut away at the time of the explosion and CNN was the only one to catch it live? Immediate replays were then played on those stations who cut away-- which would account for the memories of "watching it live".
"Myth #1: A nation watched as tragedy unfolded
Few people actually saw what happened live on television. The flight occurred during the early years of cable news, and although CNN was indeed carrying the launch when the shuttle was destroyed, all major broadcast stations had cut away — only to quickly return with taped relays. With Christa McAuliffe set to be the first teacher in space, NASA had arranged a satellite broadcast of the full mission into television sets in many schools, but the general public did not have access to this unless they were one of the then-few people with satellite dishes. What most people recall as a "live broadcast" was actually the taped replay broadcast soon after the event."
|
|
Rainbow
Pearl Clutcher
Where salt is in the air and sand is at my feet...
Posts: 4,103
|
Post by Rainbow on Jan 27, 2016 13:08:30 GMT
I was in the military at that time. My coworker told me about it and I thought he was kidding. It didn't really hit me until after work when I saw it on TV in the dorm. It was shocking.
|
|
|
|
Post by melanell on Jan 27, 2016 13:10:00 GMT
I remember being shocked and saddened when I first heard, and then people started saying that this would be the end of further space missions, which made me feel even worse, because I kept thinking that those who lost their lives would never have wanted that.
|
|
