Space Shuttle Challenger 1986

[nursejenn]

I was 6... I have no idea...

[Tree Phantom]

Lake Of The Pines, crappie fishing.

[txstringbender]

Wow. 30 yrs. I was in the 7th grade. My dad had pick me and my sister up from school for lunch. When we go home dad turn on the TV and that's when we found out.

[More Liberty]

I was in a 6th grade art class at Dunbar middle school in Dickinson.

[KNEE DEEP]

I was on horseback watching convicts chop grass on the side of hi way 90 in Sugarland working for TDC. 23 years old at the time. Remember it well.

[Tryton]

I was driving up I45 in Houston going to North Harris Community College. My future wife was in Mission control working.

[kurt68]

RIP Challenger crew!

[32drawlength]

Rip

[Hot4huntin]

I worked half a day in high school and was on my way home from work to eat lunch when I heard it on the radio. I got to school late that day because I was watching the news on TV.

[Ranger Link]

Freshman in high school, just got done with lunch and going to JROTC.

[jkranchrstexas]

7th grade Mr. Gannon's history class. Watching it live on TV....with rabbit ear antennas!

[asttbe]

Junior in high school In gym


One of the best presidential speeches ever given

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering.

Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, **** Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

[Ironman]

I miss Reagan.

[Bill]

I miss Reagan.

He didn't refer to citizens as "folks".

[DvlDogHunter]

I was in 2nd grade. We watched the launch live on a TV in the cafeteria. I remember it being shut off very quickly after the explosion.