Wow. It's been 20 years since the Challenger tragedy. Time flies.

 

Remembering the crew of the Challenger.

I don't know...it seems like it was eons ago. I remember walking into a restaurant during lunch break at school, and there was footage of the clouds after the explosion. I was oblivious to what had happened, and I said outloud "gee, what happened, the space shuttle blow up or something", to which the entire place said "yes" in a horrified whisper.

 

My friends and I took off running back to the school to spread the word. Nobody believed us until it came over the speakers from the principal. The whole day went into TV footage at school, if I remember right.

 

What year was the first launch? Was it '80? I know I was in 5th grade. I remember watching it on TV in school.

I directed a play about this tragedy on its 15th anniversary iat my theatre in Chicago.

The play was called "Defying Gravity".

It's amazing the effect this story still has on people, now 20 years later.

A little off topic, but the night before the Columbia disaster, my dad asked me to download "Space Oddity" for him. We thought that was beyond creepy.

What year was the first launch? Was it '80? I know I was in 5th grade. I remember watching it on TV in school.

1st launch of Columbia was 4/12/81.

I actually worked for Morton Thiokol ( the makers of the O-rings ) at that time.

We had the audio of the launch going through the paging system and everyone heard what happened. We then immediately had dozens of men in very nice suits running around panicking, having meetings and trying to figure out what happened.

One very crazy day. Can't believe it's been 20 years already....damn, I'm getting old...

I actually worked for Morton Thiokol ( the makers of the O-rings ) at that time.

We had the audio of the launch going through the paging system and everyone heard what happened. We then immediately had dozens of men in very nice suits running around panicking, having meetings and trying to figure out what happened.

One very crazy day. Can't believe it's been 20 years already....damn, I'm getting old...

H. Christ...how much did you know the people on the conference call with NASA the night before?

 

Oh, and Thiokol as far as I know didn't just make the O-Rings...they were the lead contractor on the entire SRB assembly.

Edited January 26, 200620 yr by Balta1701

H. Christ...how much did you know the people on the conference call with NASA the night before?

 

Oh, and Thiokol as far as I know didn't just make the O-Rings...they were the lead contractor on the entire SRB assembly.

Well, yeah, but I mentioned the O-rings because that's what f***ed up.

I knew a couple of the Chicago hotshots, but the main people weren't based in Chicago.

Plus, I worked more with the salt/corporate side of things.

It caused a GIANT s***storm for a long time, and we lost the NASA contract as a result, obviously.

You're a couple days early, right?

You're a couple days early, right?

Yes, the launch took place on Jan 28th. There were scheduled launches the previous days, but both were called off, one due to a mechanical difficulty, another due to wind I believe. The cold snap happened the night of the 27th-28th.

Wow. It seems like only yesterday. It is one out of maybe a half a dozen days in my life that seem like it just happened.

Wow.  It seems like only yesterday.  It is one out of maybe a half a dozen days in my life that seem like it just happened.

 

To paraphrase John Lennon:

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other "spams"