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News & ArtsWednesday, February 3, 2010
History "They Got Troubles"
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:32 PM
The Louisville Courier-Journal posted a home video of the Challenger disaster from 24 years ago. The man who recorded the video, Jack Moss, recently died and bequeathed the video to Louisville's Space Exploration Archive.
The Challenger launch was the first space launch I ever watched. I was home sick from school, but I wanted to watch it because Christa McAuliffe, the teacher on board, was from New Hampshire, which practically made her a neighbor to me in Maine. When the plume of smoke captured here happened on national TV, I thought it was the space shuttle going into hyperdrive or something sci-fi like that. Moss's confusion at the beginning of this tape, his doubts about whether that was supposed to happen or not, reminded me of what it was like right then.
1
I have pretty vivid memories of Challenger as well. We were watching it in my 2nd grade classroom, because my teacher was friends with Christa McAuliffe. My teacher obviously was upset/crying and left the room, leaving us all stunned and wondering what the heck was going on and what were we supposed to do without a teacher...
I don't know if I want to watch this video...
I don't know if I want to watch this video...
2
Watched it in my fourth grade classroom. The teacher realized what had happened before we did and quickly wheeled the TV out of the class and got us working on another assignment. Wasn't until I got home later that I realized what had really happened. Still get that awful feeling when i watch it.
3
Thanks for the memories of 1986...Ronald Reagen President who had made cuts to NASA which were believed to be responsible for this....and Rock Hudson died just the year before - I really hated my 20s and the 80s so glad they are in the past - But wait isn't NASA on the chopping block again - Oh that is right - never mind.....
4
Oh you kids. I remember Alan Shepard going up in the first Mercury flight in 1959. But yeah, I remember this like it was yesterday also.
5
Julie: It's hard to even tell from this video what happened. It's not nearly as horrifying as that video taken of the plane hitting the second World Trade tower. If you feel like watching it, I don't think you'll be shocked.
(Julie's "McAuliffe" is correct, btw, Paul.)
(Julie's "McAuliffe" is correct, btw, Paul.)
7
While I remember being sad when this happened, considering the number of people aboard, isn't this more like watching any car pileup on I-5 during bad weather where people die?
I mean, in the grand scheme of things, we become inured to loss of life when people travel horizontally, but somehow the more it goes vertically - plane, sub, and especially shuttle - the more we are shocked.
Well, unless it's someone on a fixie - they deserve it.
I mean, in the grand scheme of things, we become inured to loss of life when people travel horizontally, but somehow the more it goes vertically - plane, sub, and especially shuttle - the more we are shocked.
Well, unless it's someone on a fixie - they deserve it.
8
Thanks for posting this, Paul. I was also home sick from school, in fourth grade, back in Connecticut. I'd forgotten to watch the launch. When my my mom called to check on me (she was out running an errand) and started her sentence off with the words "The Space Shuttle", I was kicking myself for missing the event. I never expected her to continue with "was destroyed." I remember videotaping the coverage and watching the explosion frame by frame to try to understand.
Apropos of your post, I recently found a poetic and heartbreaking video ("Space Shuttle Destroyed", http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFakingHoa…). I'm both impressed and a bit scared that amateur video hoaxery can be this convincing.
Apropos of your post, I recently found a poetic and heartbreaking video ("Space Shuttle Destroyed", http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFakingHoa…). I'm both impressed and a bit scared that amateur video hoaxery can be this convincing.
10
My mother let me stay home to watch it when I was 8. I remember being confused also and thinking 'Maybe the big cloud is where the boosters kicked in.' I was right for the wrong reason. It scared me off of astronautical dreams forever. Instead, I used a telescope.
11
"Ronald Reagen President who had made cuts to NASA which were believed to be responsible for this...." @3: This statement is false. NASA spending increased each year from 1973 to 1993, when the first meaningful cut occurred since canceling the apollo program. Nobody with their head screwed on straight ever blamed Reagan for the disaster: In fact, the conclusions as to fault were complete within months of the event, and haven't been challenged since. The fault is squarely on NASA and NASA contractors. Use your head: even if they were under budgeted, it's their job to ensure safety above launch deadlines.
12
This was a chilling morning (I was in my MIT lab, working at the time... the news spread quickly through the geek hallways, we all spent the rest of the day watching the endless replays.)
But this was NOTHING like experiencing the national horror of the Kennedy/King assassinations. Somehow, perhaps because I was a little kid then, I felt it more deeply than the Sep. 11 horror. Probably because of Bush/Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld/Feith and the rest of those criminals.
But this was NOTHING like experiencing the national horror of the Kennedy/King assassinations. Somehow, perhaps because I was a little kid then, I felt it more deeply than the Sep. 11 horror. Probably because of Bush/Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld/Feith and the rest of those criminals.
14
Weird, I was home sick as well (though just malingering). I was watching a feature on the Today show about Pat Benatar, and right when they cut to tape of Pat they then cut to the two plumes of smoke from the Challenger. Took a minute for them to explain what was happening.
15
@12 It's funny, a few years ago, at a gathering of a bunch of my relatives, I started the conversation of what event was most shocking/had the most impact on your psyche. I was really interested in 9/11 vs. the Kennedy assassination, but I threw in Pearl Harbor and a few other events just to see what would happen. My mom and her sister (55-60 at the time) said Kennedy was much worse than 9/11, but my grandma (late 80s) said 9/11 was worse (even over Pearl Harbor), which I thought was fascinating.
Liberal vs. conservative didn't seem to matter in terms of the responses (we have a wide range from very liberal to diehard christian conservative in my family).
Liberal vs. conservative didn't seem to matter in terms of the responses (we have a wide range from very liberal to diehard christian conservative in my family).
16
i was in high school in new hampshire at the time. we sat down to watch in physics class.
same reaction--"that doesn't look right..." and a long time before we knew what had happen. the teacher just switched it off and told us we could leave. the principal called for an assembly later that day, but there wasn't much he could say.
the impact wasn't the number of people who perished. it takes context.
shuttle launches were considered almost routine at the time. so much so that a young teacher from a few towns over was going to be the first civilian/non-astronaut to reach outer space. she was a local hero.
of all missions to go wrong, it just had to be that one.
same reaction--"that doesn't look right..." and a long time before we knew what had happen. the teacher just switched it off and told us we could leave. the principal called for an assembly later that day, but there wasn't much he could say.
the impact wasn't the number of people who perished. it takes context.
shuttle launches were considered almost routine at the time. so much so that a young teacher from a few towns over was going to be the first civilian/non-astronaut to reach outer space. she was a local hero.
of all missions to go wrong, it just had to be that one.
17
That morning hit me really, really hard.
Where we were, it wasn't such a big deal to watch the launches, because they were commonplace to us. We had all gathered to see probably the first dozen of so, all the way back to 1981; by then, it felt routine. So most people weren't watching the launch outside a classroom here or there. An hour after the incident, our school principal spoke to us on the PA system to inform us of what had happened. It was right before my lunch in grade seven. I was still in drama class.
There's a reason why our principal waited an hour. He and other principals in the school district had to quietly find and remove Ellison Onizuka's and Mike Smith's kids from school before telling the rest of us. Erin Smith was a year behind me (in the same school) and Allison Smith was two years older and in high school. Ellison's kids were in grade school.
It was very personal for me. A grade five teacher introduced me to the joy of astronomy, and soon after, I met most of the crew members from the first flight of Discovery in 1984. On that mission, Judy Resnik flew as the second female astronaut. She seriously inspired me. The autographs from five of the six Discovery crew inspired me. But Judy inspired me for the simple reason that if she could do it, so could I.
So whenever I see the 28th at 10:39:12 once more, I still get weepy a bit, as it was not only the loss of innocence, the loss of a dream to become an astronaut, and the loss of seven people, but also the loss of my inspiration. The next nine months were a very dark time to be around all the people pulled into the investigation. In that time, brown-haired people went completely grey, and many faces in the neighbourhood weren't seen until after the final investigative report on Morton-Thiokol was published.
The only good to come of it was the celebration of music when Jean Michel Jarre made the skyline a backdrop for his performance. That was Saturday, 5th April 1986. Ron McNair, who had recorded with Jarre on the then-current Rendez-vous album, was played at the performance by Kirk Whalum in McNair's honour.
More...
Where we were, it wasn't such a big deal to watch the launches, because they were commonplace to us. We had all gathered to see probably the first dozen of so, all the way back to 1981; by then, it felt routine. So most people weren't watching the launch outside a classroom here or there. An hour after the incident, our school principal spoke to us on the PA system to inform us of what had happened. It was right before my lunch in grade seven. I was still in drama class.
There's a reason why our principal waited an hour. He and other principals in the school district had to quietly find and remove Ellison Onizuka's and Mike Smith's kids from school before telling the rest of us. Erin Smith was a year behind me (in the same school) and Allison Smith was two years older and in high school. Ellison's kids were in grade school.
It was very personal for me. A grade five teacher introduced me to the joy of astronomy, and soon after, I met most of the crew members from the first flight of Discovery in 1984. On that mission, Judy Resnik flew as the second female astronaut. She seriously inspired me. The autographs from five of the six Discovery crew inspired me. But Judy inspired me for the simple reason that if she could do it, so could I.
So whenever I see the 28th at 10:39:12 once more, I still get weepy a bit, as it was not only the loss of innocence, the loss of a dream to become an astronaut, and the loss of seven people, but also the loss of my inspiration. The next nine months were a very dark time to be around all the people pulled into the investigation. In that time, brown-haired people went completely grey, and many faces in the neighbourhood weren't seen until after the final investigative report on Morton-Thiokol was published.
The only good to come of it was the celebration of music when Jean Michel Jarre made the skyline a backdrop for his performance. That was Saturday, 5th April 1986. Ron McNair, who had recorded with Jarre on the then-current Rendez-vous album, was played at the performance by Kirk Whalum in McNair's honour.
19
This is harder to watch than video of the 9/11 plane hitting the WTC. Witnessing confusion is tough.
20
I was in HS too, but for whatever reason they didn't deem this important enough to interrupt my class to bring in a TV or make us assemble in the auditorium to watch. But, the principal did announce what had happened over the intercom, which made it rather surreal.
Strangely, I can't recall if I had to wait til I got home to watch the endlessly repeated footage of the explosion, or if there was a TV in one of the classrooms showing it; I know we didn't watch it in class but it seems like I saw it somewhere before going home that day.
Strangely, I can't recall if I had to wait til I got home to watch the endlessly repeated footage of the explosion, or if there was a TV in one of the classrooms showing it; I know we didn't watch it in class but it seems like I saw it somewhere before going home that day.
21
I was in ninth grade, and we had the day off school for some reason or another - maybe the end of the quarter. I was vacuuming the living room during the launch and as I watched it, I though something didn't look right, but I finished vacuuming anyway. When I finally heard what happened, I was transfixed for the rest of the day, and it really stuck with me - so much so that I wrote my freshman research paper in college about how the lack of monitoring and oversight of NASA subcontractors contributed to the accident.
22
I was in my first grade class at Bryant Elementary School here in Seattle. The whole class was watching it eagerly and then everyone started crying.
23
Sorry to have to correct your faulty memory @4, but Shepard's MR-3 sub-orbital flight was on May 5th, 1961. We couldn't even get monkeys into space (above 60 miles) back in 1959.
And it still pains me to watch this, 25 years later.
@7:
I would posit just the opposite. By the time of the Challenger explosion the general public had come to view spaceflight as something so boring and routine as to be akin to commercial air travel: smiling, happy people got on board, were launched into the blue, floated around for a few days, then came home. Thus, it was truly ironic that this disaster occurred right as the first civilian non-astronaut was part of the crew, which, IMO at least was what made it such a traumatic experience for so many. Just as people were beginning to really imagine that the average Joe or Jane could take a trip into space, the first one to do so died just minutes after launch (the subsequent review board concluded that at least three of the STS-51L crew, possibly more, were still alive when their demolished crew compartment slammed into the ocean at 220 mph. A particularly gruesome moment-by-moment recreation of the event can be read in former astronaut Mike Mullane's excellent memoir "Riding Rockets".)
And although I'm loathe to give Reagan credit for anything more than his appearance on "Death Valley Days", I have to agree with @11 and their assessment of responsibility in the Challenger loss.
And it still pains me to watch this, 25 years later.
@7:
I would posit just the opposite. By the time of the Challenger explosion the general public had come to view spaceflight as something so boring and routine as to be akin to commercial air travel: smiling, happy people got on board, were launched into the blue, floated around for a few days, then came home. Thus, it was truly ironic that this disaster occurred right as the first civilian non-astronaut was part of the crew, which, IMO at least was what made it such a traumatic experience for so many. Just as people were beginning to really imagine that the average Joe or Jane could take a trip into space, the first one to do so died just minutes after launch (the subsequent review board concluded that at least three of the STS-51L crew, possibly more, were still alive when their demolished crew compartment slammed into the ocean at 220 mph. A particularly gruesome moment-by-moment recreation of the event can be read in former astronaut Mike Mullane's excellent memoir "Riding Rockets".)
And although I'm loathe to give Reagan credit for anything more than his appearance on "Death Valley Days", I have to agree with @11 and their assessment of responsibility in the Challenger loss.
25
It's pretty cool that Jack Moss stuck this (Betamax!) video in his drawer for 24 years and dug it out just a week before he died. I want to know what Mudede has to say about this.
26
Sitting on the steps and waiting for the bus. Bus pulled up and the announcement was coming over the radio. We were headed to Children's Hospital in LA for a field trip.
27
Cool - thanks, Comte. Believe it or not, I've never actually looked up the exact date. Now I know.
28
I was in middle school in NJ, but actually home for a snow day. Some of my friends and I were playing outside, when the older brother of one of them shouted out to us from the back stoop of their house, "The Space Shuttle exploded!" We all shouted back our disbelief, but eventually he was able to convince us to come back inside, where we watched the horror over and over.
I was (and remain) a big geek about space (I went to Space Camp twice, the year before and after the Challenger disaster), and so I still remember it as really shocking.
I was (and remain) a big geek about space (I went to Space Camp twice, the year before and after the Challenger disaster), and so I still remember it as really shocking.
29
Forget the shuttle explosion -- It's remarkable that a couple of hayseeds have a Christo sculpture in their yard.
30
@29 - LOL.
Since we're all reminiscing, I was in 6th grade and the resident douchebag/bully said "All that training just to get blown up!" Even at my age I thought that was insensitive.
Since we're all reminiscing, I was in 6th grade and the resident douchebag/bully said "All that training just to get blown up!" Even at my age I thought that was insensitive.
31
I was 7 years old and growing up in South Carolina when it happened. I remember it because Ronald McNair was a SC native. Many academic programs and schools are named after him.
@28 - I so fucking envy you. I wanted to go to Space Camp but my family couldn't afford it.
@28 - I so fucking envy you. I wanted to go to Space Camp but my family couldn't afford it.
32
Corrected the spelling in the post. Thanks, leek and Julie in Eugene, for spelling it correctly. Apologies to all.
33
My mom applied to be the teacher on the Challenger when they were looking for one. Her application was rejected because, at 25, they said she was too young to go.
34
Even though it's about Columbia, not Challenger, this made me turn on the Commander Thinks Aloud.
35
I was also malingering from school that day. Mom called and said "turn on the TV; something happened to the shuttle." It was surreal.
36
Oh, the sadness.
I was in high school, and the principle came around to tell the classes in person. I had to drive down to Johnson Space Center that day (I was an intern), and I'd never seen so many adults in shock.
I was in high school, and the principle came around to tell the classes in person. I had to drive down to Johnson Space Center that day (I was an intern), and I'd never seen so many adults in shock.
37
My grandfather took some photos of the explosion from his haus. He could see that something was wrong and grabbed his camera. Smart man he was.
38
I didn't know of the crash until I got to math class, and nobody was there but the teacher (everyone else was in the commons watching tv). The math teacher said, "Haven't you heard?" -- blank look -- "Oh, well, bad news: the Voyager crashed". The Voyager was, of course some unmanned contraption somewhere past Saturn I think, and I just shrugged, "oh, that's too bad." It wasn't until much later in the day (and after many shrugs, like, "you guys are soo overreacting") that someone set me straight. I'm kind of impressed that the teacher didn't go on to treat me like an unfeeling asshole.
39
I was super-excited to watch the launch but my school bus was late due to snow and I ended up walking into my 3rd-grade class just after the explosion. I was really mad that I missed it until I realized that no one was talking. Or doing anything, really, except watching the replays over and over. Very surreal.
40
The Long Winters have a great song about that, it's called "The Commander Thinks Aloud", and here's a video of a live version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvd7jspvi…
41
i was in class. we weren't watching the launch, but it had come up at some point during the morning.
the principal announced it over the intercom. all us junior high students froze, not quite sure what we were hearing, but we new it was really really bad, because we were watching our teaching cry at the front of the room.
the principal announced it over the intercom. all us junior high students froze, not quite sure what we were hearing, but we new it was really really bad, because we were watching our teaching cry at the front of the room.
43
I remember covering the first launch of the space shuttle Columbia for my college radio station. (That same year I covered the Reagan assassination attempt. I was one of many who reported on air--after reading the AP teletype--that James Brady had died.) When the Challenger exploded, I was a trader on Wall Street, and in the years before the web and web-based e-mail, the jokes flew around by fax. I've consciously blocked most of them from my memory, but I know they were the most obsenely tasteless (and, consequently, funny) jokes I'd ever heard.
44
@ 43, a group called The Feederz released an album later that year called "Teachers in Space" with the Challenger explosion on the front cover. Your anecdote about the jokes reminded me of that. You can still buy it...
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/musi…
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/musi…
46
I remember watching this as a Junior in High School. The 'Need another seven astronauts' jokes began during the next period...
This accident was well studied. As part of the leadership/safety program in my department we watched several documentaries on the accident, and how we did the same things that the Morton Thikol & NASA engineers did leading up to the explosion. The organizational lessons translate pretty well (at least to telecom.)
This accident was well studied. As part of the leadership/safety program in my department we watched several documentaries on the accident, and how we did the same things that the Morton Thikol & NASA engineers did leading up to the explosion. The organizational lessons translate pretty well (at least to telecom.)
47
We already had a trip to Florida bought and paid for for later that year which included a stop at NASA. There was barely a sign of life at Kennedy Space Center and we didn't even so much as catch a glimpse of anything remotely related to the Space Shuttle. We did see the launch pads which were impressive but the whole day at NASA was very subdued.
Living in southern California, we occasionally have the Space Shuttle land here because of bad weather in Florida and the distinct double sonic *boom boom* upon re-entry is exciting and chilling and gives you goose bumps and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Most of the time people are unprepared for it as the decision to land here is often made at the last minute. I love that sound and always recognize it for what it is even when others are wondering "what was that".
Just an FYI, the next Space Shuttle launch is scheduled for this Sunday, February 7, 2010. Endeavour, you are go for launch.
Godspeed STS-130 crew.
Living in southern California, we occasionally have the Space Shuttle land here because of bad weather in Florida and the distinct double sonic *boom boom* upon re-entry is exciting and chilling and gives you goose bumps and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Most of the time people are unprepared for it as the decision to land here is often made at the last minute. I love that sound and always recognize it for what it is even when others are wondering "what was that".
Just an FYI, the next Space Shuttle launch is scheduled for this Sunday, February 7, 2010. Endeavour, you are go for launch.
Godspeed STS-130 crew.
48
I guess I just found out that except for 5280, I am the old dude here.
I was working for NASA, yes I was that fateful day. After many schedule delays, January finally brought us to the calendar year of our launch-to-be for the first time - we were scheduled for 2 flights after Challenger, and morale was picking up.
I was working in an very long and narrow building, and my office was in a small cube farm at one end of the building. At lunch time I went down the endless corridor (no not *that* endless corridor) to gather up a friend to go eat. That was about 50-75 yards away. He was nowhere to be found, so I walked back.
By the time I got there, my office mates had out a radio I never even knew we had and were listening intently and there were tears on some faces already.
I was in the hallway during the entire flight, but as NASA's highest visible project, our world and careers changed forever before there was a splash in the water.
I was working for NASA, yes I was that fateful day. After many schedule delays, January finally brought us to the calendar year of our launch-to-be for the first time - we were scheduled for 2 flights after Challenger, and morale was picking up.
I was working in an very long and narrow building, and my office was in a small cube farm at one end of the building. At lunch time I went down the endless corridor (no not *that* endless corridor) to gather up a friend to go eat. That was about 50-75 yards away. He was nowhere to be found, so I walked back.
By the time I got there, my office mates had out a radio I never even knew we had and were listening intently and there were tears on some faces already.
I was in the hallway during the entire flight, but as NASA's highest visible project, our world and careers changed forever before there was a splash in the water.
50
This footage is amazing. The silent, distant view of tragedy offers such a unique perspective.
I was in Jersey City during 9/11 and have footage from a tripod in my apartment of the towers collapsing and it is affecting in a very different way as a distant continuous shot. The buildings just quietly peeled away and disappeared into an enormous column of clouds. There was something graceful and beautiful about it that was in complete contradiction to the reality of the situation.
I was in Jersey City during 9/11 and have footage from a tripod in my apartment of the towers collapsing and it is affecting in a very different way as a distant continuous shot. The buildings just quietly peeled away and disappeared into an enormous column of clouds. There was something graceful and beautiful about it that was in complete contradiction to the reality of the situation.
51
leek, you owe me a beer or something. Just watched the video with my husband, and damn, that was depressing. Oh well.
My parents are in Florida now because my dad has always wanted to see the space shuttle launch. So, hopefully everything goes off okay on the 7th.
My parents are in Florida now because my dad has always wanted to see the space shuttle launch. So, hopefully everything goes off okay on the 7th.
53
No worries -- I almost never listen to myself when I think, I shouldn't watch that or I shouldn't look at that picture. And then I almost always regret it. Case in point: pretty much everything related to 9/11 (which you're right, is definitely more horrifying).
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