Space Shuttle Challenger - 30 Years Ago Today

[Ding Dong !]

With all the media attention around Tim Peake's mission on the ISS at present, today sees the 30th anniversary of a reminder of just how dangerous space travel can be and just how wrong it can go.

I wonder if anyone remembers seeing the news of the loss of Challenger (I was only 2 at the time, so not me) and can remember how big of a story, if at all, it was in this country?

Remember it well. Was 18 at the time and sitting in a bar in Cervinia, Italy with two mates on a Ski Holiday.

 

[Triggaaar]

I remember it very clearly, sat watching with my brother and aunty. Thankfully it's not often you watch people die in real time.

 

[maltaseagull]

Huge story in the U/K even though no direct connection unlike today,s ISS. I believe that the investigation found that there was something up with the fuel feed system,but i could well be wrong ? Challenger was not the first lose of life for the Americans the Apollo fire was gruesome. One does wonder did the Russians actually lose anyone in their attempt to beat the Americans to land on the Moon ?

I suspect they did, but we will probably never know.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I remember it clearly. Someone in the playground ran up and said "have you heard the shuttle has exploded !!".

I got VERY scared, because I thought they meant the Shuttle, as in the number 60 bus that ran from Mile Oak to Brighton. I was really worried because my mum always got that bus to work. True story.

We're you in detention, as it exploded at 16.39?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Yes, it was big news here - particularly because it was the first time (I think) that a civilian (Christa McAuliffe, the school teacher) was going be sent into space. Very dramatic - and horrifying - pictures on the TV. Not as shocking as 9/11, but almost as memorable.

Agreed - until 9/11 probably the most horrific TV moment I'd seen. It was one of those TV moments you can always recount where you were. I'll chuck in another as well - I always remember the SAS storming of the Iranian Embassy - they interrupted World of Sport for it.

 

[Rabeen]

I remember it vividly. I was in from school and watching on the TV. My father was due to arrive home from another long stint at sea that same evening and I believe my mum was on the way to the airport to collect him.

By chance, just under three years earlier, we had been on holiday in Florida and my parents had hired a Winnebago which we drove to Cape Canaveral to watch the maiden flight of a new Space Shuttle named Challenger. It was an amazing experience, especially the heavy rumble many minutes after she had taken off as it rippled through the earth and across the Cape to where we were parked with thousands of other vehicles.

To then witness the death of seven brave humans and indeed the first civilian to attempt to be taken to space upon the very same craft was truly terrible.

As a school teacher now myself I held an assembly on Tuesday to commemorate that fateful day and the loss of Christa McAuliffe and her six fellow astronauts.

The unusual subzero temperatures of the days leading up launch caused various rubber fuel tank o-rings to warp were eventually discovered to be the main reason for the 'total vehicle loss'.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

It was early days of rolling news coverage in the US. In the UK, children's programmes were interrupted to show the explosion.

This is true. I was at home watching TV after school and they interrupted the programme (which, weirdly, I seem to remember was called Splash) for a newsflash, possibly by John Craven & his Newsround chums. That was highly unusual in those days.

(and yes, I also remember the playground jokes afterwards).

 

[ExmouthExile]

I remember watching it all unfold on a tv in a shop window in Broadwater, Worthing

 

[Easy 10]

We're you in detention, as it exploded at 16.39?

It was 1986, I was 14. Either smoking or playing football I'd wager.

 

[Pevenseagull]

difficult (similar) age

I was probably being excluded from a game of 'dungeons and dragons' for not taking it seriously and getting very, very excited about ladies.



.............oh no, that was the Falklands War

 

[ROSM]

This is true. I was at home watching TV after school and they interrupted the programme (which, weirdly, I seem to remember was called Splash) for a newsflash, possibly by John Craven & his Newsround chums. That was highly unusual in those days.

(and yes, I also remember the playground jokes afterwards).

Pedant alert - splash was on itv

But yes having checked it up it was splash that was showing at that time and according to the itn archives it was Alistair Stewart who led the newsflash

Interesting fact about Alistair was that he was chosen to be in the Goodyear blimp covering the wedding of chas and Di from above the route as he was the only journalist small enough