I just saw a commercial that CNN Presents is doing a story on Christa McAuliff this weekend. Then I realzied it has been 20 years since the space shuttle Challenger tragedy. It doesn't seem that long, I can still remember being at lunch in third grade and a teacher coming in and telling us about it. For some reason we didn't watch it like a lot of schools did. This was my generation's JFK assassination, at least until that sad day on 9/11 So how many other people here remember that day 20 years ago? Where were you, and how did you find out?

PS: here is the CNN presents summary:

Christa McAuliffe, chosen to be America's first teacher in space, was an outspoken and opinionated woman who refused to be scripted by her government handlers. CNN Presents tells the real story of McAuliffe through her family, who for the first time share their memories and the private pain beneath the public tragedy of her death aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/images/top.christa.jpg

OMG! I cannot believe that it has been that long ago! I cannot remember where I was but I certainly do remember it! That was quite a day!:( RIP Christa and to all of the crew!:(

Yes, I remember that day too well. I was 21 and seen it live. It was horrible and one of those days that you know where you were when it happened. That awful feeling came over me when the Columbia also exploded. So sad and tragic.

I wasn't old enough to remember Challenger, but I was around. I was still a baby at the time, five months old. It's hard to believe that on Saturday, it will have been 20 years ago. :(

I remember this terrible tragedy only too well. I was in 4th grade and when our teacher came back from lunch she told us that the space shuttle and exploded. :(

I remember that day. It was snowing, I was in college, and as I went into the campus center, someone said, "Did you hear about the space shuttle?" It blew up!" I thought he meant the rocket boosters exploded before it got off the ground but that the shuttle itself was intact. Then I went to the campus center lounge and saw exactly what had happened on TV. :(

Twenty years. . . . Has it been that long?

Here's a creepy coincidence: January 28, 1986 was a Tuesday. January 28 fell on a Tuesday in 2003. Four days later, Columbia self-destructed upon re-entry. Kind of weird that both shuttles were destroyed in weeks ending February 1. :eek:

I wasnt born yet, but RIP :( :crying:

It was weird. . . . Just a few nights before 1/28, Johnny Carson was making teacher jokes about Christa McAuliffe - "Will she grade her fellow astronauts?" and things like that.

I was only 1... but the first time I watched a documentary on it I cried... expecially when the families start talking

HOUSTON - Twenty years ago, millions of television viewers were horrified to witness the live broadcast of the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds into flight, ending the lives of the seven astronauts on board. And they were equally horrified to learn in the aftermath of the disaster that the faulty design had been chosen by NASA to satisfy powerful politicians who had demanded the mission be launched, even under unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered to use a weaker sealant for environmental reasons. Finally, NASA consoled itself and the nation with the realization that all frontiers are dangerous and to a certain extent, such a disaster should be accepted as inevitable.

At least, that seems to be how many people remember it, in whole or in part. That’s how the story of the Challenger is often retold, in oral tradition and broadcast news, in public speeches and in private conversations and all around the Internet. But spaceflight historians believe that each element of the opening paragraph is factually untrue or at best extremely dubious. They are myths, undeserving of popular belief and unworthy of being repeated at every anniversary of the disaster.

The flight, and the lost crewmembers, deserve proper recognition and authentic commemoration. Historians, reporters, and every citizen need to take the time this week to remember what really happened, and especially to make sure their memories are as close as humanly possible to what really did happen.

If that happens, here's the way the mission may be remembered:

1. Few people actually saw the Challenger tragedy unfold live on television.
2. The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word.
3. The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.
4. The design of the booster, while possessing flaws subject to improvement, was neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference.
5. Replacement of the original asbestos-bearing putty in the booster seals was unrelated to the failure.
6. There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin.
7. Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management — the disaster should have been avoidable.

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.

Myth #2: Challenger exploded
The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word. There was no shock wave, no detonation, no "bang" — viewers on the ground just heard the roar of the engines stop as the shuttle’s fuel tank tore apart, spilling liquid oxygen and hydrogen which formed a huge fireball at an altitude of 46,000 ft. (Some television documentaries later added the sound of an explosion to these images.) But both solid-fuel strap-on boosters climbed up out of the cloud, still firing and unharmed by any explosion. Challenger itself was torn apart as it was flung free of the other rocket components and turned broadside into the Mach 2 airstream. Individual propellant tanks were seen exploding — but by then, the spacecraft was already in pieces.

Myth #3: The crew died instantly
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 ft 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.

What's less clear is whether they were conscious. If the cabin depressurized (as seems likely), the crew would have had difficulty breathing. In the words of the final report by fellow astronauts, the crew “possibly but not certainly lost consciousness”, even though a few of the emergency air bottles (designed for escape from a smoking vehicle on the ground) had been activated.

The cabin hit the water at a speed greater than 200 mph, resulting in a force of about 200 G’s — crushing the structure and destroying everything inside. If the crew did lose consciousness (and the cabin may have been sufficiently intact to hold enough air long enough to prevent this), it’s unknown if they would have regained it as the air thickened during the last seconds of the fall. Official NASA commemorations of “Challenger’s 73-second flight” subtly deflect attention from what was happened in the almost three minutes of flight (and life) remaining AFTER the breakup.

Myth #4: Dangerous booster flaws result of meddling
The side-mounted booster rockets, which help propel the shuttle at launch then drop off during ascent, did possess flaws subject to improvement. But these flaws were neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference.

Each of the pair of solid-fuel boosters was made from four separate segments that bolted end-to-end-to-end together, and flame escaping from one of the interfaces was what destroyed the shuttle. Although the obvious solution of making the boosters of one long segment (instead of four short ones) was later suggested, long solid fuel boosters have problems with safe propellant loading, with transport, and with stacking for launch — and multi-segment solids had had a good track record with the Titan-3 military satellite program. The winning contractor was located in Utah, the home state of a powerful Republican senator, but the company also had the strengths the NASA selection board was looking for. The segment interface was tricky and engineers kept tweaking the design to respond to flight anomalies, but when operated within tested environmental conditions, the equipment had been performing adequately.

Myth #5: Environmental ban led to weaker sealant
A favorite of the Internet, this myth states that a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered by regulatory agencies to abandon a working pressure sealant because it contained too much asbestos, and use a weaker replacement. But the replacement of the seal was unrelated to the disaster — and occurred prior to any environmental ban.

Even the original putty had persistent sealing problems, and after it was replaced by another putty that also contained asbestos, the higher level of breaches was connected not to the putty itself, but to a new test procedure being used. “We discovered that it was this leak check which was a likely cause of the dangerous bubbles in the putty that I had heard about," wrote physicist Richard Feynman, a member of the Challenger investigation board.

And the bubble effect was unconnected with the actual seal violation that would ultimately doom Challenger and its crew. The cause was an inadequate low-temperature performance of the O-ring seal itself, which had not been replaced.

Myth #6: Political pressure forced the launch
There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin. Launch officials clearly felt pressure to get the mission off after repeated delays, and they were embarrassed by repeated mockery on the television news of previous scrubs, but the driving factor in their minds seems to have been two shuttle-launched planetary probes. The first ever probes of this kind, they had an unmovable launch window just four months in the future. The persistent rumor that the White House had ordered the flight to proceed in order to spice up President Reagan’s scheduled State of the Union address seems based on political motivations, not any direct testimony or other first-hand evidence. Feynman personally checked out the rumor and never found any substantiation. If Challenger's flight had gone according to plan, the crew would have been asleep at the time of Reagan's speech, and no communications links had been set up.

Myth #7: An unavoidable price for progress
Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management — the disaster should have been avoidable. NASA managers made a bad call for the launch decision, and engineers who had qualms about the O-rings were bullied or bamboozled into acquiescence. The skeptics’ argument that launching with record cold temperatures is valid, but it probably was not argued as persuasively as it might have been, in hindsight. If launched on a warmer day, with gentler high-altitude winds, there’s every reason to suppose the flight would have been successful and the troublesome seal design (which already had the attention of designers) would have been modified at a pace that turned out to have been far too leisurely. The disaster need never have happened if managers and workers had clung to known principles of safely operating on the edge of extreme hazards — nothing was learned by the disaster that hadn’t already been learned, and then forgotten.

I remember where I was when I learned of the tragedy. I was in sixth period art class (eighth grade). A classmate told me the Challenger exploded, but I didn't believe him. A few minutes later an announcement of the space shuttle's ill fate came over the loudspeaker. :crying:

it's odd but I was six at the time and didn't remember hearing about it until later on.

I do remember later on when a documentary about it was on, my mom mentioned that my older brother, who I hate and think is one of the most evil people alive, made a "so it exploded, big deal" type of comment when it happened (she wasn't exactly the president of my brothers fan club herself), which IMO, proves just the type of malicious, vicious ******* he is.

If anybody wants to watch the broadcast tonight, it airs twice tonight and twice tomorrow at 8pm and again at 11pm, both Eastern time.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/presents/

Apparently this is a rerun and it aired for the first time this past Sunday.

Wow. Hard to beleive it's been 20 years. I remember that day.

I remember that day bc I was babysiting my niece and I saw it on TV and remember thinking -What the hell just happened?? Very sad day.

The author Paul Fussell once summed up American ineptitude by singling out the Challenger, "brought to you by faulty manufacture, inept and dishonest quality control, and lying and evasion for the sake of big bucks."

How do space shuttle engineers sleep at night? :mad:

The author Paul Fussell once summed up American ineptitude by singling out the Challenger, "brought to you by faulty manufacture, inept and dishonest quality control, and lying and evasion for the sake of big bucks."

How do space shuttle engineers sleep at night? :mad:

The engineers knew the rings were bad but were told by higher ups not to worry about them. This was not the engineers' faults.

The engineers knew the rings were bad but were told by higher ups not to worry about them. This was not the engineers' faults.


Then how do the higher-ups sleep at night? :mad: ohno:

Flashback: President Reagan's Statement to Nation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...nation/science (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/24/AR2006012401191.html?nav=rss_nation/science)


President Reagan: A Tribute To Seven Heroes' 'Special Spirit'

Wednesday, January 29, 1986

Text of President Reagan's statement yesterday:

Ladies and gentlemen, I planned to speak to you tonight to report on the State of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core over the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight. We'd never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger seven, were aware of the dangers and overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly.

We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. To the families of the seven, we cannot bear as you do the full impact of this tragedy, but we feel the loss and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here. Our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them, "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades and we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime, the great frontiers were the oceans and a historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew, their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. 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.

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/01/24/PH2006012401994.jpg

http://cagle.com/working/060127/parker.gif

Flashback: President Reagan's Statement to Nation


I remember that speech. I he gave it on the night he was supposed to give the state of the union. I am still moved by that speech, and it still makes me sad. :(

Well, I guess I am one of the few to say I actually saw it live in person, NOT on tv. I was 7 and living in Florida at the time. I can remember back then, whenever NASA launched anything during the day we could see it if we were outside at the time. It was always the highlight of my day knowing there was going to be a lift off during recess or P.E.

That day, I was sitting on a ramp leading to one of the buildings eating my peanut butter cheese crackers with my lemonade box waiting for Challenger to blast off. It was a pretty day that day, the best we had had lately. I can remember watching it up in the air and then instead of the nice straight line into outerspace, there was a ball of colors where the shuttle had just been. I don't think I really understood at that moment what happened...hell I don't think anybody really knew. I can remember staring at the sky and you could literally see lines of smoke shooting in all directions. There was the ball, then a line still going somewhat straight up, and a BUNCH of lines coming down. I guess the best description would be that it kinda reminded me of a firework going off in the sky.

The teachers herded us into the nearest classroom. It didn't matter if that was where we were supposed to be or not, we were put there and did not change classes the rest of the day.

I also remember the next launch. I was in 5th grade then. About 10 minutes before the launch our school was locked down. All students were in classrooms. NO student was allowed outside for any reason. All of the doors and windows to each classroom were shut. Not all classrooms had television sets so they put 2 classes in each classroom with a tv. The tv was turned on and a teacher stood next to the television ready to turn it off in a moments notice if this shuttle too exploded. Thank God it did not. That is one event I will NEVER forget in my lifetime.

D

It was abnormally cold for Florida that day, which allowed icilces to form and caused the O-rings to fail? What was the actual temperature at liftoff?

And how come they didn't postpone it indefinitely? And again, how do NASA higher-ups sleep at night? :mad: