It was 20 years ago today....

[Hardbopjazz]

... Challenger blew up after takeoff. Where were you and what were you doing? I was in a store buying food for my pet Oscars at the time. Ran home and glued myself to the TV all day and night.

Remembering Challenger 20 Years Later By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer

Thu Jan 26, 12:40 PM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Twenty years ago, space shuttle Challenger blew apart into jets of fire and plumes of smoke, a terrifying sight witnessed by the families of the seven astronauts and by those who came to watch the historic launch of the first teacher in space.

The disaster shattered NASA's spit-shined image and the belief that spaceflight could become as routine as airplane travel. The investigation into the accident's cause revealed a space agency more concerned with schedules and public relations than safety and sound decision-making.

Seventeen years later, seven more astronauts were lost on the shuttle Columbia, leading many to conclude NASA had not learned the lessons of Challenger.

But after last summer's successful return to flight under the highest level of engineering scrutiny ever, many space watchers are more hopeful.

"Don't we all learn as we go?" said Grace Corrigan, who lost her daughter, teacher Christa McAuliffe, in the Challenger accident. "Everybody learns from their mistakes."

Joining McAuliffe on the doomed Jan. 28, 1986 Challenger flight were commander Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith and astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis.

"It was one of those defining moments in your life that you will always remember," said U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla., who had flown on the shuttle mission preceding Challenger. "Because in 1986, the space shuttle was the symbol of technological prowess of the United States and all the sudden it's destroyed in front of everybody's eyes."

The two shuttle disasters, as well as the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew during a 1967 launch pad test, taught the space agency how to improve the herculean task of launching humans into space, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said recently. On Thursday, NASA workers paused for their annual Day of Remembrance in honor of those lost in all three accidents. On Saturday, a ceremony remembering the Challenger accident is planned at Kennedy Space Center.

Challenger was brought down just after liftoff by a poorly designed seal in the shuttle's solid rocket booster, which has since been redesigned and has performed without problems. It will be used on the next-generation vehicle with plans to return astronauts to the moon and later to Mars.

"We learned how to design solid rocket boosters ... with no further failures," Griffin said. "We got that from the Challenger crew, so that is part of the learning process, I'm afraid."

The Challenger disaster came in an era of tighter budgets, smaller work forces and a constant need for the space agency to justify the shuttle program that followed the heyday of the Apollo moon shots. NASA had hoped sending a teacher into space to give a lesson would win back some public interest and show the routine nature of shuttle flights.

The success of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs had led NASA to believe that spaceflight eventually could become as commonplace as an airplane ride, said Stanley Reinartz, the former manager of the shuttle project office at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala. He made the decision not to take engineers' concerns about the Challenger's O-ring seals to the highest reaches of NASA management.

"Things can go wrong," Reinartz said of the decision to launch. "You don't get away from it. It's always there."

Nelson said he is confident that the current NASA leaders have learned the lessons of management hubris from their predecessors. Griffin grounded the shuttle fleet last summer after foam fell off the tank of Discovery during the first shuttle flight after Columbia. It was a chunk of foam debris that doomed Columbia by knocking a hole in its wing.

"The problem that NASA has had that caused the destruction of both space shuttles is the same reason ... arrogance in the management of NASA so that they were not listening to the engineers on the line," Nelson said.

But some critics wonder how long the 2-year-old reforms and attitude changes implemented after Columbia will last until, once again, dissenting opinion is discouraged and NASA managers override the concerns of their engineers.

In a series of telephone conference calls the night before Challenger's liftoff, engineers from NASA contractor Morton Thiokol recommended against a launch because data showed that cold temperatures compromised the O-rings' resiliency. The temperature at launch time was 36 degrees. Under perceived pressure from NASA managers, Thiokol managers reversed themselves and went against the recommendation of their engineers not to launch, according to the investigation by a commission appointed by President Reagan.

"The presidential commission made very powerful and strong recommendations on how the system needed to be fixed," said Roger Boisjoly, a former Thiokol engineer who had opposed the Challenger launch during the conference calls. "Initially NASA installed every one of those (recommendations), but in the ensuing years proceeded to dismantle them."

Griffin said he is reminded of the early days of the nation's air transport system when scores of test pilots died in plane accidents during the early part of last century.

"The knowledge we gained was gained only through many, many losses," Griffin said. "That is the perspective through which we must look at our losses in spaceflight."

___

On the Net:

NASA's Web site on the history of the Challenger accident:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sts51l.html

[Jazzmoose]

I absolutely refuse to believe that it's been twenty years. I am NOT that old.

[Rooster_Ties]

I was a junior in high school at the time, and I vaguely remember being told about the accident, and then the whole high school (all 25 of us -- yeah, it was a really small school) all assembling around a not-very-big TV that was pulled out of a closet or something. We all watched the news reports for an hour or so, and then went off to our respective classes.

Truthfully, while it certainly was a pretty big deal - in retrospect, I don't think it was THAT big a deal. Maybe my experience of it is slightly different, cuz we weren't all sitting around watching the lift-off (unlike many, many students did - because of the teacher on board). I don't think anyone in the school watched the event happen as it unfolded. Seems like the school watched the coverage starting a good 15-30 minutes after it happened.

By way of contrast, though -- Chernobyl was a much, MUCH bigger deal, as I recall. (BTW, the 20th aniversary of Chernobyl is coming up in April of this year.) Chernobyl was something we discussed in school for days and weeks to come, in science classes - and certainly in whatever Poly-Sci type class I was in at the time.

Edited January 27, 2006 by Rooster_Ties

[Aggie87]

For me the Challenger explosion was quite a bit bigger impact than Chernobyl. It was "THAT big a deal".

I was in class at Texas A&M, when someone came in and informed the professor what had happened. He looked like he was hit by a truck, and then told us what had happened, and said he had to go. He also happened to work for NASA in Houston.

Classes at the university (40,000 students) were cancelled for the rest of the day, and I remember going home and watching the news with a few buddies in complete silence for the rest of the day. We all were zombies for a few days.

The Chernobyl seemed to gradually come out in bits and pieces over time, to me. It didn't have the huge wallop that Challenger did. It may have had more overall effect and loss of lives, but there seemed to be alot of confusion and cover-up in what was being released to the news.

[Soulstation1]

senior year in high school and saw the news updates at a friends house near school

20 year reunion this year

Edited January 27, 2006 by Soulstation1

[Brownian Motion]

...Sargeant Pepper taught the band to play!

[BruceH]

The Challenger explosion? Twenty years ago? Oh, MAN, do I feel unbelievably ....ing old.

[Soulstation1]

[Alexander]

I was in 9th grade. It was Regents week at school, but as I had no mid-term exams, it meant that I had the week off from school. I had come home (from where I don't remember) and the phone rang. It was my friend Jason (now the artist behind the "Deep Fried" comic book). He told me that the Space Shuttle had blown up. I ran to the TV and saw the replay of the explosion. I don't remember what I felt, but I suppose I was somewhat shocked. Space Shuttle missions had become extremely routine by 1986, and most of us had stopped paying attention to them. We knew, however, that Chris McAuliffe was a part of this mission and that it was a big deal (first civillian in space and all that). I mainly remember the rather sick jokes that followed the accident, the mildest of which was that NASA stood for "Need Another Seven Astronauts." I remember my dad explaining that very often people respond to tragedy through humor and that such jokes are commonplace after a disaster.

As for Chernobyl, I remember spending a lot of time discussing it in Social Studies class. I also remember a lot of sick jokes going around about that disaster. Such as, "What clucks and glows in the dark? Chicken Kiev."

[Hardbopjazz]

At my last job I worked with a guy that was a clone of the guy the movie "a Beautiful Mind", John Nash. He had stories that he swore by. One day he was writing with a pen that said NASA on it. One of my other coworkers asked where he got it. He started to tell a story how he was walking in a park in Rochester, NY January 1986. He looked up and saw something falling out of the sky. When it hit the ground it started to melt the snow. He walked over to it and saw it was a pen with the word NASA on it. He picked it up and wondered where it fell from. When he went home, his wife was all upset. When he asked why she was so upset, she told him the shuttle just blew up. He swears the pen was from the shuttle. We told him, why he didn't turn it in. His reply was, it is evidence from an accident and he would get in trouble for having it.

[Indestructible!]

He started to tell a story how he was walking in a park in Rochester, NY January 1986. He looked up and saw something falling out of the sky. When it hit the ground it started to melt the snow. He walked over to it and saw it was a pen with the word NASA on it. He picked it up and wondered where it fell from.

Now that would have had to have been one HELL of an explosion for the pen to get all the way up to Rochester! Methinks your coworker had a pretty "active" imagination!

As for me, I was a senior in high school in Canmore, Alberta... had to take a Provincial English exam in the afternoon, so I was sleeping in when my mom called me from her work and told me to get up and turn on the TV. I had just turned 17, and the image of the white plumes of smoke stayed with me for days. It felt like I had just lost some good friends of mine!

I wondered why the deaths of seven people I had never met had such an impact on me... still do, I guess.

Shane

[catesta]

I heard about it on the radio while I was driving.

I went straight home to watch the news.

[Noj]

I was in elementary school, and our teacher had brought in a TV for the occasion. We saw the disaster live, and I can vividly remember our teacher's tearful attempt to explain that something had gone horribly wrong.

[Guest]

The community room in my dorm at UNT. I don't quite remember what I felt. 9/11 is much clearer to me, but a somewhat parallel experience.

[BruceH]

I absolutely refuse to believe that it's been twenty years. I am NOT that old.

I'm with Moose. Especially since I still have a mental age of 24 (at the most.)

[Kalo]

I absolutely refuse to believe that it's been twenty years. I am NOT that old.

I'm with Moose. Especially since I still have a mental age of 24 (at the most.)

Almost seems like more than 20 years ago to me.

I remember that I was working a post-college temp job at the Hilte nail gun warehouse in Allston, Massachusetts. I heard about it on the radio. If I recall correctly, I was listening to the MIT station, which was playing a show devoted to 1970s Miles Davis. Pete Cosey's guitar playing on Agartha seemed oddly appropriate and has been hard to listen to ever since.

[clifford_thornton]

I was watching Public Access on Sunday afternoon, and they had a zoom shot of the whole Challenger deal set to Black Sabbath. Pretty wild!

[marcello]

I didn't see this thread until tonight.

On that day, I was flying from Miami, heading north, when I looked out the window to the east and saw a strange plume of smoke that was spiraling up and down in several directions.

My plane was very, very close to it.

It was only after we got to the airport in Atlanta, during a stop over, and I saw everyone looking at the TVs, that I realized what that smoke was.

I would say that my plane passed by it no more that 10-15 minutes after the explosion; closer to 10, I assume, because the smoke had not dispersed much at all and was still falling/moving; very intact and condensed.

Edited February 1, 2006 by marcello

[marcello]

At my last job I worked with a guy that was a clone of the guy the movie "a Beautiful Mind", John Nash. He had stories that he swore by. One day he was writing with a pen that said NASA on it. One of my other coworkers asked where he got it. He started to tell a story how he was walking in a park in Rochester, NY January 1986. He looked up and saw something falling out of the sky. When it hit the ground it started to melt the snow. He walked over to it and saw it was a pen with the word NASA on it. He picked it up and wondered where it fell from. When he went home, his wife was all upset. When he asked why she was so upset, she told him the shuttle just blew up. He swears the pen was from the shuttle. We told him, why he didn't turn it in. His reply was, it is evidence from an accident and he would get in trouble for having it.

It couldn't have come from my plane because we changed in Atlanta.

And trust me Hardbopjazz ( Tom?), I'm from Rochester and nobody walks in the parks in the middle of January!

But then again, your friend seems more than a little strange.

[Hardbopjazz]

At my last job I worked with a guy that was a clone of the guy the movie "a Beautiful Mind", John Nash. He had stories that he swore by. One day he was writing with a pen that said NASA on it. One of my other coworkers asked where he got it. He started to tell a story how he was walking in a park in Rochester, NY January 1986. He looked up and saw something falling out of the sky. When it hit the ground it started to melt the snow. He walked over to it and saw it was a pen with the word NASA on it. He picked it up and wondered where it fell from. When he went home, his wife was all upset. When he asked why she was so upset, she told him the shuttle just blew up. He swears the pen was from the shuttle. We told him, why he didn't turn it in. His reply was, it is evidence from an accident and he would get in trouble for having it.

It couldn't have come from my plane because we changed in Atlanta.

And trust me Hardbopjazz ( Tom?), I'm from Rochester and nobody walks in the parks in the middle of January!

But then again, your friend seems more than a little strange.

I wonder if you know him. His first was Ron, and last name started with S.

[Robert J]

Whoa - 20 years. First year university, I was on a bus going to school. A woman on the bus turned to me and said: "Did you hear..." She had such a gleeful expression that I did not believe her, until other students confirmed it when I arrived on campus. I think the image of that skid mark of smoke as the peices came back to Earth is the worst memory.

But Chernobyl was scarier. I remember seeing footage of all these guys on the roof of the reactor putting out the fire. I thought, there's no way these guys are going to live to see tomorrow.

[Jim R]

I remember watching the launch on TV at home (I was getting ready to go to an estate sale with my father-in-law that morning). I still remember the shock (successful launches had indeed become routine) and sorrow I felt, especially having seen a good amount of pre-launch coverage featuring profiles of the astronauts. I grew up in the era of "The Mercury 7", and always had great respect for the space program in general.

The other night I watched part of the PBS documentary. I've seen it before, but that video of the mission control staff watching the disaster occur is just gut-wrenching.

Re Chernobyl, I agree with Aggie87. It was a terrible thing, but the way the news trickled out, the shock was greatly diminished.