Twenty years later

[sharkeeper]

January 28, 1986.

The doomed STS51-L mission bringing the first teacher into space.

Some of you may know that I was a subcontractor for NASA in the late 80's and through the 90's. Anyone that's been involved in the program knows the day too well. Feb 01 is right around the corner too.

I know a lot of you were either too young to remember or not around. I have a news broadcast of this live as it happened. I *will* find this in a bit and host it if there is an interest.

I'm in Belize currently enjoying some tranquil weather and will be having breakfast in a few min.

Cheers!

 

[dethman]

has it been 20 years? freak.

 

[mcvickj]

Ah. The Challenger accident. I had to Google it. I'd be interested to catch that news broadcast.

 

[snoturtle]

My grandfather was down right near there on vacation

He had pulled over to the side of the road to take pictures of an armadillo
While doing that he heard the sound of take off and saw it going up so started taking pictures

Endning up taking a few months to get the pictures back and I don't think he ever got the negitives back

 

[TSS]

20 years? thats a long time... means ill turn 19 soon, born a year later then that disaster. how time flies....

 

[Rubycon]

I watched Discovery lift off last July. It was quite an experience, everyone was just silent. We had a great view from Port Canaveral obviously. The roar is LOUD. The chugging sound of the SRB's at a minute into the launch make some ridiculous low frequency sounds. If you hold a middle C you hear a gentle vibrato with a offset of about 8 cycles per second. How low can you go?

 

[bmacd]

not only did i forget about this, I never knew about it in the first place.

-=bmacd=-

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: bmacd
not only did i forget about this, I never knew about it in the first place.

-=bmacd=-

What are you 7 years old,
and have not taken any Science classes?

I saw the Challenger launch/ "explosion" on TV.

The "explosion" happened not exactly "live" on TV, as the broadcast channels
had gone to commercial.

 

[JoPh]

i forgot

 

[MrChad]

I was only 6 at the time, but I can remember gathering around the TV with my parents and seeing the look of concern/shock on their faces. I also remember that it was discussed for weeks after it occurred (what the cause was, could it have been prevented, etc.).

Hard to believe it's been 20 years.

 

[cavemanmoron]

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=1e836...f=06/64&p=hotvideo_challenger&GT1=7538


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/?GT1=7538


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.

 

[JDrake]

I wasn't even closed to being born :/

 

[KLin]

Text

 

[TheSlamma]

I don't remember much of that day very well, but I remember in good detail my uncle coming over to my house and telling me lets go inside and turn on the TV "The space shuttle just blew up", I was working on the brick sidewalk at my old house.

 

[aircooled]

I was 16 years old when it happened. I remember watching it live on TV. It was a very surreal moment in time. I'll never forget it.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn

I watched Discovery lift off last July. It was quite an experience, everyone was just silent. We had a great view from Port Canaveral obviously. The roar is LOUD. The chugging sound of the SRB's at a minute into the launch make some ridiculous low frequency sounds. If you hold a middle C you hear a gentle vibrato with a offset of about 8 cycles per second. How low can you go?

'POGO' - it's the acoustical resonance that is set up by a shockwave that reflects between the nozzle area of the SRB's
and the forward dome of the top segment in the SRB stack, it travels back and forth as a wave motion in the burning propellant gases.
They 'chug' at a very low frequency and alter the engine thrust by a +/- 100,000 Lbs of thrust each cycle.
Thats about 5 times a second - they say you can feel the oscillation in the climb-out.

At the moment of launch there is a momentary hesitation as the motors come up to boost,
where they delay in order to get the left and right SRB's in phase so there isn't a shimmy or wallow in the flight trajectory.

 

[Kalvin00]

Originally posted by: sharkeeper

I know a lot of you were either too young to remember or not around. I have a news broadcast of this live as it happened. I *will* find this in a bit and host it if there is an interest.

Cheers!

I would love to see this.

 

[MisterJackson]

I remember being in the truck with my Dad when they talked about this on the radio. I was 9. I didn't fully comprehend what I was hearing/experiencing, but I knew it was bad because my Dad pulled over, parked the truck and listened while he looked like he was going to cry. I'll never forget that as he NEVER has gotten like that.

 

[Vegitto]

I have no idea.. Please post this news item ..

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: KLin
Text

 

[BigToque]

Originally posted by: KLin
Text

 

[alien42]

a day i will never forget

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

we watched it live in 6th grade. Our teacher became hysterical, and the principal had to take over our class. We all knew something bad happened, but we didn't comprehend it.

 

[kurt454]

I was 18 when it happened. Can't believe it has already been 20 years.

 

[PullMyFinger]

I was a freshman at the University of Florida and at the time of the accident I was eating breakfast in the eating hall at my dorm. The news broke into the show that was on the tv in the corner and everyone just sat there dumb founded, one person actually dropped their tray of food. We all rushed outside and looked to the southeast and you could clearly see the launch plume, the explosion cloud, and both SRB trails. Sad day indeed.