kallend 2,162 #1 January 28, 2006 news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_2506000/2506161.stm... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveStMarys 0 #2 January 28, 2006 Yep, I sure do remember that. Learning from our mistakes can be a real bitch. BobbiA miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RhondaLea 4 #3 January 28, 2006 Quotenews.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_2506000/2506161.stm I still remember exactly where I was...driving on Route 1, crossing the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. I got my new license plate the other day--Challenger and Columbia on the same plate. The old one is a memorial to Challenger only. A little something extra usually feels like a bonus. This time, it makes my stomach clench every time I look at it. rlIf you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #4 January 28, 2006 Wow... doesn't seem that long ago. Memory plays tricks and bad news appears to stay at the top of the list longer than good news, I guess. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bazelos 0 #5 January 28, 2006 Well I was only a year and a half then so I don't remember anything about it, was it all caused by a simple O ring failing? He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yamtx73 0 #6 January 28, 2006 QuoteQuotenews.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/28/newsid_2506000/2506161.stm I still remember exactly where I was...driving on Route 1, crossing the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. I got my new license plate the other day--Challenger and Columbia on the same plate. The old one is a memorial to Challenger only. A little something extra usually feels like a bonus. This time, it makes my stomach clench every time I look at it. rl I had the day off, was working midnight shift at the time and was sitting at home watching it on tv...The only naturals in this sport shit thru feathers... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnMitchell 16 #7 January 28, 2006 Well, the O-ring was the mechanical reason for the disaster. The real reason was that every machine has it's limits, and the O-rings were limited to use in weather above freezing temperatures. Subcontractor engineers from Thiokol, the manufacturer of the solid rocket boosters and the o-rings warned NASA management not to launch that day. These warnings went unheeded by overly optimistic managers intent on keeping on schedule and avoiding embarassing launch scrubs. The rest is history. A perfect story of letting happy thoughts get in the way of sound judgement. Every pilot and skydiver should carry a little speck of pessimism with them to help them make safety related decisions rationally. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 7 #8 January 28, 2006 QuoteI had the day off, was working midnight shift at the time and was sitting at home watching it on tv... *** When it happened I was working the night shift at an aerospace plant on the West coast that had a lot of sub-contracted parts on the shuttle. We did work on things like the LOX containers all the way up to the main engine exhaust nozzles. There was always a buzz around work when a launch was upcoming...we all felt like we were, in a small way, a part of the team. I too was at home watching television coverage of the event, as I always did...ever since the Mercury program, when my dad would let us skip school to view history in the making. I recall sitting speechless in front of the tube for two hours watching them replay it over and over...in total disbelief. Then work called...everyone was being ordered 'in' to get ALL the paperwork together on everything we had made for that bird. It was the quietest day at work I ever remember. ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ffejdraga 0 #9 January 28, 2006 I was 11 years old, in elementary school, the whole class watching it all unfold. Damn. jeff D-16906 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #10 January 28, 2006 Quote I still remember exactly where I was...driving on Route 1, crossing the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. I was in 11th grade, sitting in my computer science class. The teacher of that class had been in the running with McAuliffe to be on the flight and had been dubbed second alternate or something...meaning he came pretty close to being on it. The school office interrupted classes to announce over the intercom what had happened. My teacher turned white as a ghost, went to his desk and put his head down. A few minutes later he dismissed us. I went home and for the first time in my life, spent hours watching CNN. When I look back on how life has changed in my lifetime, that event stands out, mostly because of the amount of news coverage. Blues, Dave"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #11 January 28, 2006 I remember exactly where I was, and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was training a grey arabian horse in our University arena, when my boyfriend stopped by with the news. I couldn't believe it! I had to leave and go back up to the dorm, where the one and only tv room was completely stuffed with as many people who could fit in the room. I had to peer over those in the doorway to catch the view. In 20 years, have we learned? Have we grown? How many things have changed (with NASA and everything else in the world) since then. Makes one shake their heads and wonder. ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NWFlyer 2 #12 January 28, 2006 I was home from school (would have been sophomore year of high school, I guess) for the day (school holiday for some reason?) and though the Shuttle launches had long ceased to be the "cool" thing to watch, I think I was actually watching it, or was watching something else and the news came on almost right away. I was watching upstairs in my parents' bedroom and remember just lying there watching over and over again in stunned silence."There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GiaKrembs 0 #13 January 28, 2006 I was in Okinawa just waking to get ready for school when AFN interrupted to make the broadcast... I yelled for my mom and we both layed in my bed together stunned/saddened at the news. g Raddest ho this side of Jersey #1 - rest in peace brother Beth lost her cherry and I missed it .... you want access to it, but you don't want to break it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #14 January 28, 2006 I was watching the launch live on TV...It was a big deal with the Teacher in space publicity and was just stunned... I went on in for classes but I dont remember much of the rest of that day at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGUN 1,497 #15 January 29, 2006 What I will always remember is the look on Christa's parents faces. It wasn't disbelief or shock. They just looked numb as to what had just happened.Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #16 January 29, 2006 I was at school watching it live. The school got real quite and pretty much stopped clases for the rest of the day.---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dbattman 0 #17 January 29, 2006 I had this picture minimized in the corner of my laptop for several years. I used it as a reminder that there will come a time that, as an engineer, I MUST stand up to my management or the repercussions will be immense. This was not caused by mechanical failures, freezing temperatures, or O-rings. It was caused by engineers who would not raise their voices and put their butts out there when it mattered. They knew they were outside known and tested limits and expected the shuttle to blow up on the pad. The Thiokal engineeers have been on record, on videotape, describing the discussions leading up to the Challenger disaster. Basically, the engineers said 'no', the managers said 'you haven't convinced us so we're making a management decision' and then called NASA and said 'go ahead.' And then they went around the room full of Thiokal techies on the call with NASA and inquired: 'Does anyone have anything else to add?' Guess not. When Columbia went down I had just walked into the DZ and everyone was watching it. A little later after they had replayed and filled in the events leading up to it I said that when it was fully investigated it would turn out just like Challenger. The engineers said no we need more time, the managers didn't listen, and the engineers wouldn't stand up to them. From what I've been able to gather it's begining to look like that is the case here as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akarunway 1 #18 January 29, 2006 I watched it live in person. Being I lived right down the road and watched most takeoffs. I cried. Coming from a USAF/NASA family it hurt. Hope they get back in the air soonI hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #19 January 29, 2006 I was a senior in high school, in Huntsville, AL which many of you probably know is home to Marshall Space Flight Center and the Space and Rocket Museum. I was in my drafting class at the central technical school when a classmate told me the news from his personal radio. We then were called into general assembly in the hallways 5 minutes later, then sent back to our respective high schools and sent home. Huntsville, AL is now home to schools named for the two space program disasters before Columbia. We have Chaffee Elementary, White Middle and Grissom High. There's also Challenger Middle. I am not sure if there's anything planned to honor Columbia, but Grissom has been overcrowded for some years."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #20 January 29, 2006 You know what the strange thing about this disaster was? My dad worked for Thiokol Corp at their small rocket motors division in Huntsville, AL (not connected to the shuttle program at all), but not long after the shuttle accident, he had to fly out to Thiokol's main plant in Utah (where they build the rocket boosters) for a seminar that was already planned beforehand. He saw that vandals had spray-painted "murderers" on the entrance sign. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
happythoughts 0 #21 January 29, 2006 Quotethe O-rings were limited to use in weather above freezing temperatures. If you ever want to cut a rubber object evenly, freeze it. I've frozen rubber and then cut it cleanly with a band saw. That day, I was standing on the 3rd floor of a building watching the launch out a window. My buddy turned to me and said, "Something has gone horribly wrong." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #22 January 29, 2006 Does anyone realize this is the black week of space exploration for America? In the first disaster, Chaffee, White and Grissom die in a cockpit fire on the launch pad on Jan. 27. Challenger blows up after launch on Jan. 28. Columbia breaks apart on re-entry on Feb. 1. All in a span of 6 calendar days. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #23 January 29, 2006 QuoteI remember exactly where I was, and what I was doing when I heard the news. Seems to be a common thing for most that were around for it. I was in 7th grade and it happened during our period switch. Once I got into biology class I remember Mrs Newman walking in crying. She had applied to be on that space shuttle flight. Just as she was starting to tell us, they announced it on the PA. We spent the rest of the day watching it on tv._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Channman 2 #24 January 30, 2006 I work with each crew and remember with everyone else the silence when looking at the monitors knowing we all just lost friends. Un-known to us at the time the crew servived the explosion as several had activated their emergency Oxygen and were flipping switches, impacting the water was not as kind. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morningdove831 0 #25 January 30, 2006 I remember exactly where I was. We were out of school for a snow day and I was in 4th grade. Mom & I were watching the launch live on tv and I saw it happen live. Mom and I both cried. One who looks for a friend without faults will have none. -- Hasidic Saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
