Monday, January 24, 2011

Where were you when you heard about the Challenger?

It'll be 25 years since the space shuttle Challenger disaster. For Boomers, the question is always "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" For Xers, it's more likely to be "Where were you when you heard about the Challenger explosion?"
I was in 9th grade at the Edsel Ford High School cafeteria when my friend told me. Where were you?

11 comments:

Kristina said...

I that is "where were you" question of our childhood.

I was in orchestra class, sixth grade. My friend Dan had gotten a bathroom pass and looked in on a classroom watching the launch and saw it happen. He came back and told us. I told him he was lying or wrong because space shuttles don't just blow up for no reason. Then he convinced me it happened, and I assumed the Russians shot it down.

We had a substitute teacher that day and he was mean as a snake. He didn't even give us a minute to catch our breath before he made us go back to playing our instruments, banging on the piano with a quarter between his knuckles in lieu of a metronome.

Craig Munn said...

On a bus on my to my class at vocational school in 10th grade.

The bus left at 11:15am, we got there at 11:45am. It was an Electronics repair class, so we had all sorts of TVs in various working order.

The first thing the instructor said as we walked in was "The shuttle blew up." We were a little stunned, but all 15 working TVs were on and showing covereage. Everybody was coming down to our classroom to watch.

A very surreal day.

KateNonymous said...

I was a senior in high school, and (as was often the case), I was in the journalism room. The photographers came out of the darkroom and told us, "The space shuttle just exploded." Because they were always joking and pranking, I said, "It did not." We went back and forth for a minute, and one of them said, "Turn on the TV." I said, "You turn on the TV." After a minute of that, I said, "Fine. I'll turn on the TV, and we'll see that . . . oh. The space shuttle exploded."

JK said...

I don't know why I wasn't in school. I remember being in a diner with my dad, eating breakfast. I/we saw it on the TV at a diner. I was helping him on the job that morning. ???


Jeff.

Greengerg said...

In between classes at the student lounge at my college, where I was a junior. Everyone crowded around the TV in shock.

Anonymous said...

I was in my high school physics class, watching it on TV.

Jen said...

I was in study hall in 7th grade. I watched it on the tv as it happened. Apparently the gym teacher took it quite hard since they canceled my gym class I had right after that.

J- said...

I was walking down the south hallway up a ramp next to the gym between classes in 7th grade.

I don't really remember it being life changing for me...I mean, I knew at the time that going into space was a dangerous undertaking studying Apollo 1, but I know it was life changing for some, as Bonnie G didn't want to go steady after it happened.

Oh well...

Anonymous said...

Sophomore year of college. I returned from class to my dorm, walked into the lobby where the ONE television in the whole dorm was playing..and my whole world collapsed.

Unknown said...

I was in ninth grade earth science. I hated my teacher, Mr. Krygowski, he was kind of a bully and liked to talk down to us a lot. When the announcement about the shuttle came over the PA, Mr. Krygowski broke down and cried. He had been one of the last ten candidates considered to go up on the shuttle. He had spent several weeks getting to know the crew and Christa and he was just heartbroken. I felt sorry for him.

Justin Lee said...

Well... I heard about it today.

Im from another country, probably that is the main reason for it.

Well... that answers it.

But by the way... this is a really cool blog- would certainly follow you on social networks and I hope you would do the same.

Regards,
Justin Lee,
SEO & Talent Recruitment Manager,
www.Joblisting.sg