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Kinetic_Strike t1_ivw2een wrote

Reply to comment by frodosdream in Piece of the space shuttle Challenger found by divers in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida by fredrandall

Was one of the elementary kids. We were West Coast though, so we didn't have it on live, I think we were planning to watch the first broadcast from the shuttle they had set up. A handful of us stayed inside for recess, our teacher was turning on the TV to see what was going on. That's when we found out.

Fast forward a decade and half, and I watched the pieces of Columbia falling through the sky from a breakroom at work. Drove home in a daze listening to the news.

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howitzer86 t1_ivwq9a9 wrote

Columbia. Ooof.

I was riding in the car with my parents and realized all the flags we were passing were half-staff. Turning to the news on TV was the first thing I did when we made it home.

I watched a lot of reporting on that... but one thing I don't remember from back then is the cabin video. I don't know if they didn't have it yet, or if they chose to wait to release it, but it exists. Reentry burned the film up, so it ends before anything bad happens. It is still eerie as fuck.

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drrhrrdrr t1_ivy7k4u wrote

I heard a boom and the plates in my kitchen rattled. Looked outside and there was a streak across the southern sky that crisp winter morning...

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nkdby t1_ivx65o1 wrote

I was also on the West Coast. We watched it live in our classroom on the old metal av rolling stand with a gigantic tv strapped to the top. I was in the young astronauts club at the time. It didn't really occur to us that we had watched people die until after the broadcast was interrupted and the news came on. I think that was the beginning of the end for NASA.

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MUPIL090310 t1_ivyu37q wrote

I have hazy recollection (I believe I was in first grade??) and now basically knowing that as a kid I was not realizing and comprehending fully what I was seeing. Like the blast off happened and then the explosion and the teacher turning off the tv. And I remember just thinking - what was that??? What just happened?

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BLRNerd t1_ivxx6xs wrote

I remember watching the memorial for the Colombia disaster in 4th Grade, right at the height of post 9/11.

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