33 years ago today - Challenger disaster

crimsonaudio · Jan 28, 2019

33 years ago today, STS-51-L ended in disaster.

"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.""

Rest in peace, brave crew of the Challenger.

GrayTide · Jan 28, 2019

Long time ago, but I can still see the launch and explosion like it was yesterday.

crimsonaudio · Jan 28, 2019

Worth a few minutes, imo:

Bazza · Jan 28, 2019

I was working at a job site by myself that morning. My friend, Jerry, who owned an irrigation business showed up and told me what happened. Man that was a cold day - and we didn't do much talking either....

UAH · Jan 28, 2019

GrayTide said:
Long time ago, but I can still see the launch and explosion like it was yesterday.

We were in labor negotiations and as it was before cell phones and lap tops we were totally unaware until breaking for lunch and seeing the video on TV at a local restaurant.

TideMom2Boys · Jan 28, 2019

I was only a baby when this happened, but we learned all about it in school. I asked my Son if he ever learned about it in school and sadly he never heard about it. So it gave me a chance to give him a history lesson.

TIDE-HSV · Jan 29, 2019

After the horror, the next thought I had was the effect on my family. My BIL was the Director at KSFC. I knew he had put in his retirement papers. He had accepted the job as CEO at a startup in Pittsburgh which proposed to do approximately what Space-X is doing today. So that it would not appear as if he were being forced out because of something wrong that Kennedy had done, he was "persuaded" to withdraw his papers. He did retire and take the job a year later, but, for a number of reasons, the opportunity had passed and the company didn't get off the ground...

Bazza · Jan 29, 2019

The state of Florida produced a commemorative license plate for the Challenger disaster with revenues going toward the Astronaut Memorial Foundation at KSC. You used to see these plates everywhere. You couldn't drive anywhere without seeing one. Now they seem to be almost extinct, sadly.

The design changed after the Columbia disaster to include both shuttles.....and the original plate is considered a collectible now.

Today, the shuttle plate ranks 24th in popularity among Florida's 137 specialty plates. The University of Florida tops the list with 98,357 plates, followed by Helping Sea Turtles Survive (71,610 plates) and Florida State University (69,751 plates).

Brevard leads Florida's 67 counties with 2,536 Challenger/Columbia plates. Broward has the second-most with 1,963 plates, followed by Palm Beach with 1,603 and Orange with 1,571.
By contrast, only one shuttle plate is registered in Lafayette County, northwest of Gainesville. A single plate is also registered in Liberty County, west of Tallahassee.

Brevard's Top 5 specialty plates

1. Helping Sea Turtles Survive: 3,242
2. Endless Summer: 3,068
3. University of Florida: 2,851
4. Challenger/Columbia: 2,536
5. Indian River Lagoon: 2,441
Source: Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

Shuttle license plate waning in popularity, revenues

Bazza · Feb 2, 2019

Posted on another forum that I frequent....helicopter view of the event:

[video=youtube;YV-75Hg0nMc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=202&v=YV-75Hg0nMc[/video]

bamaga · Feb 2, 2019

I watched it live, I had duty that night. It was the early morning hours , about 5:30 , at Naval Air Station, Barbers Point, Hawaii. ( I lived in Ewa Beach at the time) .

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33 years ago today - Challenger disaster

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