28 years later....

[InsaneBlaze23]

Just wanted to take moment to pay respect to those who died in the Challenger tragedy and remind those who may've forgotten.

My status on FB.
On this day in 1986 7 Astronauts died as Challenger exploded on it's way off Earth, 73 seconds into it's flight.
I wasn't alive then, but it still holds dear to my heart as I count NASA as my family.

I love NASA from now till beyond death. I wish the families of those who died eternal relief.

And to Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe...may you all rest in paradise.

[// / yardo]

It was 1986. I was young kid sitting in my elementary school cafeteria watching the launch on TV with my teachers and classmates.

As it happened we didn't really know what was going on. It was like a movie. My teacher just gasped and started crying. It was surreal especially at such a young age. None of us really understood the levity of the situation or that something was going wrong. We didn't understand until later when our teachers explained to us that the shuttle exploded and the crew on board didn't survive. Some kids cried. Some sat there and it didn't mean anything to them, and some asked questions about the teacher on board and things kids ask at that age. I sat quietly and just sort of wondered what happened. I was a quiet, shy kid. I didn't feel like crying but I was shocked by the thought of death and sort of seeing someone dying on TV and it was real and not a TV show or a movie.

I'll never forget it. There's some images that stick in your mind and the image of that shuttle breaking up into pieces on that old school TV set, surrounded by my classmates is forever in my mind.

[InsaneBlaze23]

It was 1986. I was young kid sitting in my elementary school cafeteria watching the launch on TV with my teachers and classmates.

As it happened we didn't really know what was going on. It was like a movie. My teacher just gasped and started crying. It was surreal especially at such a young age. None of us really understood the levity of the situation or that something was going wrong. We didn't understand until later when our teachers explained to us that the shuttle exploded and the crew on board didn't survive. Some kids cried. Some sat there and it didn't mean anything to them, and some asked questions about the teacher on board and things kids ask at that age. I sat quietly and just sort of wondered what happened. I was a quiet, shy kid. I didn't feel like crying but I was shocked by the thought of death and sort of seeing someone dying on TV and it was real and not a TV show or a movie.

I'll never forget it. There's some images that stick in your mind and the image of that shuttle breaking up into pieces on that old school TV set, surrounded by my classmates is forever in my mind.

Thanks, don't know why I thought it 83. I wasn't born till 92, but I feel it like I was watching the launch in person.
I get a little choked up everytime I hear about Challenger and Columbia or see images of them. NASA is family to me. Both my great grand parents worked for them, I grew up with my great grand mother telling me her time with NASA and giving me the NASA new papers.

I don't have a story for Challenger since I wasn't even thought of, but Columbia....