On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
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On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
I was working on my astronomy PhD in the terminal room at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Someone came in & told us the awful news. After so many launches & astronauts, we’d grown blasé & didn’t pay much attention anymore.
That changed in 73 seconds on that cold day & we learned again that space is hard.
I still remember their names:
Onizuka, Smith, McAuliffe, Scobee, Jarvis, Resnick, & McNair.
Ad astra, STS-51L Challenger crew
That was a baaaaad day. We had to immediately produce a dedication-slide to put up before the move "The Dream is Alive" (IMAX, 1985).
The one and only time the boss didn't complain about the rush fees for 35mm slide production.
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On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
I was working on my astronomy PhD in the terminal room at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Someone came in & told us the awful news. After so many launches & astronauts, we’d grown blasé & didn’t pay much attention anymore.
That changed in 73 seconds on that cold day & we learned again that space is hard.
I still remember their names:
Onizuka, Smith, McAuliffe, Scobee, Jarvis, Resnick, & McNair.
Ad astra, STS-51L Challenger crew
Thanks for the reminder, Mark, and the tribute to the astronauts. A horrible day!
In later years, teaching a "capstone course" on engineering design, I used this calamity as one example that professionalism and good judgement are essential when building a new, risky technology.
E.g., if eminent experts on O-rings say "don't use O-rings this way", don't ignore them. Or when orbital mechanics experts warn you about putting too many satellites in similar orbits, take heed.
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On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
I was working on my astronomy PhD in the terminal room at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Someone came in & told us the awful news. After so many launches & astronauts, we’d grown blasé & didn’t pay much attention anymore.
That changed in 73 seconds on that cold day & we learned again that space is hard.
I still remember their names:
Onizuka, Smith, McAuliffe, Scobee, Jarvis, Resnick, & McNair.
Ad astra, STS-51L Challenger crew
@markmccaughrean I was in college and my roommate had a television (I usually didn't). Normally we would come home between classes and watch silly daytime tv to unwind (sometimes even summarizing the show in notes for each other if one of us couldn't see it, because that was over the top analog fun). This was what was on instead.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
The shuttle was such an important piece of space history and I always loved it for what it was -- and for the almost low-tech machines (compared to our shiny fast ones now) it was comprised of that accomplished so very much.
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On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
I was working on my astronomy PhD in the terminal room at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Someone came in & told us the awful news. After so many launches & astronauts, we’d grown blasé & didn’t pay much attention anymore.
That changed in 73 seconds on that cold day & we learned again that space is hard.
I still remember their names:
Onizuka, Smith, McAuliffe, Scobee, Jarvis, Resnick, & McNair.
Ad astra, STS-51L Challenger crew
@markmccaughrean I was in Jr HS boarding school sick in bed, woke up around lunchtime and heard the news.
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On this day, forty years ago: 28 January 1986.
I was working on my astronomy PhD in the terminal room at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.
Someone came in & told us the awful news. After so many launches & astronauts, we’d grown blasé & didn’t pay much attention anymore.
That changed in 73 seconds on that cold day & we learned again that space is hard.
I still remember their names:
Onizuka, Smith, McAuliffe, Scobee, Jarvis, Resnick, & McNair.
Ad astra, STS-51L Challenger crew
I was home sick from school and watched the explosion played on tv - not with the single-minded repetitive ferocity of today, but still at least once or twice every hour.
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