Today was 18 years ago that the Challenger shuttle exploded

[PZelda]

Tuesday, January 28, 1986.

Any thoughts? Any memories? (This is directed at the people old enough to remember it or born before it happened)

I was only five and a half months old at the time, so naturally I don't remember it, but I was alive when it happened.

[Nanny Fine]

I was in high school, in algabra (my most loathed class). This kid, andy, came runnign down the hall banging on lockers yelling "The shuttle exploded". We sat in the little tiny library the rest of the day watching the news coverage. I still to do this day have a tape of some of the original news broadcasts surrounding this. IT's very sad to watch.

We went to Disneyworld 6 weeks ater the shuttle blew up and they had a huge display down there about it. My mom has pictures somewhere.

[Mijada]

I remember that. I was in Junior High and heard about it in Math class. I still have newspapers and magazines with the 7 astronauts on the covers that my mom saved. It seems to me that the Challenger tragedy received a lot more media attention than the Columbia, but maybe it seems that way because I was still in school and the teachers were always talking about it.

[TJL]

I remember that day. I was in High School.
For some reason I was off from school that day.
I was watching another program when my brother calls to me to switch channels. "Something happened to the shuttle!" he said.
I changed the channel in time to see the smoke and clouds, and dead silence from the newspeople covering the event.
A friend called me a few minutes later.
"Are you watching this," he asked. "Can you believe what just happened?"

Very sad.

[Jenya]

I remember it slightly. That accident was covered on the news in Russia. But 1986 was not a good year. The biggest (and saddest) news event from that year was undoubtedly the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 25, 1986 in Ukraine.

[Kazza]

That day will always be in my memory. I was only in 6th grade, when I came home from school it was on every channel. It looked like a Steven Spielberg movie....I couldn't believe it.

[Titania]

I was only a couple months old at the time, my mother saved the newspaper from it in my baby book and remembers that she was watching me and my cousins (they were 5 and 6 then) when she saw it on tv.

Just from the clippings it's almost unreal; so sad.

[EricIdlefan]

I was 11 and in Tennessee me and my older siblings were out of school and watching tv when it happened. I got mad when they interrupted my game shows but my parents said that the astronaults being killed was more important and their families and loved ones also. I was only a kid but then I know that they were important.

[Janice]

I was working nights as a bartender back then, so I was sleeping late when it happened. I remember my husband came in the bedroom and told me. It felt surreal.

[Kay Scarpetta]

Originally posted by Jenya
I remember it slightly. That accident was covered on the news in Russia. But 1986 was not a good year. The biggest (and saddest) news event from that year was undoubtedly the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 25, 1986 in Ukraine.

I'm unfortunately doing a report on Chernobyl now.... saddens me

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

I was just about to turn 2 at the time, so I have no recollection. We have a memory book though that came out about it, and I first remember hearing about it on the episode of Punky Brewster.

[dandelion wine]

I was 11 years old and in school, watching it with the rest of my class as it happened. I remember total and complete silence as we sat in our chairs, stunned. A few years ago, my mom gave me the newspapers that came out the next day.

[musicradio77]

I was in Puerto Rico back in '86 when I was 7 years old when the space shuttle exploded. Soon it will mark one year since the shuttle disaster crash landed over Texas.

[Liza]

I was one of the kids who was told to watch the launch - the very first teacher in space. I was only in kindergarten, but I remember it because it was such a big deal in my school. All of the preschool, kindergarten, and probably first grade were all in the same room to watch the launch on TV - and we all counted out loud along with the TV. And I remember seeing a huge spark and it was gone, and at the time, I thought something was wrong. I'd never seen a rocket in my life, and the teachers seemed to have decided not to tell us. None of us kids knew what to think, but since no one said anything, we all just assumed that that's what a normal launch looks like - someone switched off the TV right away, and then they sent us home, without telling us what had happened. All of us just assuming it all went alright. It wasn't until I got home that my mom had to explain to me what it was I'd seen.

[Ags2000]

I was 7 1/2 at the time and living in Florida. We hadn't been there that long. I remember that day like it was yesterday. My class was outside on the playground at the time having snacks and watching the shuttle take off. (You could see the shuttle take off and land where I lived) I can remember sitting there watching it go and then all of a sudden *poof* it was just gone. You could see the debris falling back down. It was somplete silence then somebody screamed. The teachers put us into the nearest classroom. They wanted us in because you could see debris falling for awhile.

The next time a shuttle went up I was in 5th grade. They wouldn't let anyone outside incase anything happened. They had all the windows closed and nobody was allowed to change classes. A teacher was standing by the tv set incase anything happened they could turn it off. We all sat there really quiet until it passed the time the Challenger exploded.

About 2 years ago, I went to Washington D.C. for the first time and when we went to Arlington Cemetery I visited the memorial that had been erected for the Challenger, it's really nice. I have a picture here.

D