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comment by sounds_sound
sounds_sound  ·  4324 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Every Launch
Yeah. This is fun to watch. I remember the day of the Challenger tragedy. I was in kindergarden. The teacher had us all sitting around one of those tv's on a stand with wheels. It was a pretty big deal I remember because Christa McAuliffe was on that shuttle - a teacher herself. I was so young though that I didn't really understand the gravity of what it was that I saw.




thenewgreen  ·  4324 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I too was watching one of those TV's on wheels. I was in second grade. My school had really promoted the launch to all of us kids. In advance of it we were all assigned to make a drawing of the Challenger and we got to vote on whose was the best. We also participated in the Young Astronauts Club and had a countdown to the launch date.

We watched it in our school library live. I don't recall much other than it being an emotionally charged moment.

I recall a school mate telling me that NASA now stood for "need another seven astronauts" and thinking to myself even at that young age that, "that is just wrong and in bad taste".

sounds_sound  ·  4323 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I could bust out a handful of those old jokes too. They stay with you don't they. Where do those things come from? Are they some kids attempt at mourning, or are people really that callous?
thenewgreen  ·  4323 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Parents.
mk  ·  4324 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I remember that day too. In elementary school, once a week I used to go with some students to an accelerated/alternative program at another school. Our teacher there was quite eccentric.

I remember her coming into the room crying during our lunch recess. My immediate thought was that war had started between the US and the USSR. Strange as it seems, I remember feeling somewhat relieved when she told us that the shuttle had exploded. The Cold War loomed large in my conscience.

Considering our program, It's so odd that she didn't have us watching the launch in the first place. I guess I am lucky she didn't.