I just watched the saddest show ever

Snippylynn

Or maybe I'm just feeling extra sad right now?  Anyway, it was about NASA and missions and it showed all the people that had died and all of the lost shuttles.  Made me sad because I can remember them.

Do you have any memories about these?  I think it's weird that people a few years younger than me have no idea what the Challenger disaster was.

topcatiom

i remember watching with my dad and he said he hoped one day to go see it irl then it exploded, we cried

Snippylynn

holy crap topcat.  Do you remember which one?  I was in kindergarten when the Challenger blew, and they sent us home.  We had been watching it in class.

topcatiom

I'm 43 , I have a pretty good memory generally maybe it wasn't challenger, it was the one from 1985 or 86 i was 19, the one with the first teacher to go into space, her family were there to watch and her whole class? which one was that?

Snippylynn

That was Challenger. 

topcatiom

wow, it really seems like yesterday, it was very sad

garcias1

I was really young when the Challenger exploded (not even 2 years old), so I don't remember it when it actually happened, but I do remember watching the news each year for the anniversary of the explosion.  It was so sad.

Snippylynn

I feel like the 2003 one wasn't as... bad...?  Because it happened while they were still essentially in space. 

[Deleted User]

I was really young when the Challenger exploded as well. But I do remember the one that happened a few years back, I think it was the Columbia.

[Deleted User]

Wow, I just posted and your new siggy popped up. Love it. That is kinda how I am feeling right now.

topcatiom

i know where you're coming from, but i tie myself up in knots with thoughts like 'did they know?' 'were they scared?' i get very sad thinking about that.

Snippylynn

Oh god Top.  I keep hoping that it was just a wild ride for them, and they were so full of happiness and adrenaline and then... nothing.

But seeing the faces of the mission controllers was so crazy.

Meee too Missy.  Meeee tooo.

mica178

Oh, sad Grinches.  Sorry to you both!

I remember all the hoopla over the teacher preparing to go up in the Challenger.  I remember watching it explode in 2nd grade.  We were all quiet at first because we thought it was a joke or something.  It was just too horrible to be real.

Snippylynn

Yea, I don't remember thinking that I should cry.  I also remember being at home and watching more coverage on TV.  I don't know wtf my mom was thinking.

JanoBean75

I remember the Challenger explosion, I was in fifth grade. We were watching it in class and when it happened the teacher shouted "Oh my GOD!" and ran to the TV and turned it around before turning it off. We were all stunned -- didn't know how to react at all.

I'm a bit of a space monkey, so I have read a lot about the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. A lot of deaths. Whenever I watch the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, I get so sad during the ep about Apollo 1.

I was working when Columbia happened and three of my friends called to tell me about it. Seems like end of January/early February, NASA should just shut down. All the major disasters happened around that time.

Birdie1483

So why was the Challenger launch so special? Meaning, why were you all watching it in class? Were they a bigger deal back then or was it because the teacher was going up?

I was not even 3 when the Challenger exploded, so I don't remember it. I was a freshmen in college though when Columbia happened.

KermitTheKitty

I am too young to remember The Challenger explosion, but that teacher that was chosen to go on the space ship, she was from near where I grew up. In fact she went to the same college that my parents and then my brother did, and they now have a special wing dedicated to her. I think my parents even knew her, but I remember my father telling me that he was really excited for her, because he just knew that she was going to be the one picked to go (she was picked form a large pool of teachers). My 5th grade science teacher was also in the pool of possible candidates.

Birdie1483

I'm 27 and FI is turning 31 on Christmas. It's funny how much more he experienced and remembers than I do in our 4 year age difference.

aleighk1

Well, I'm definitely a baby. I wasn't even born yet when the Challenger exploded.

golden1215

I was like 3 when it happened but I remember stuff- prob anniversary stuff on TV... anyway I googled it and read the wikipedia info and almost teared up just reading that

how freaking tragic

JanoBean75

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_just-watched-saddest-show-ever?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:89848f6f-b9d2-48c3-b24e-8835a45d3948Post:f7315d2f-844b-4db9-bc7b-efa95e20b03b">Re: I just watched the saddest show ever</a>:
[QUOTE]Everything space program related was big when I was a kid (Birdie, you young thing!).  I remember eating dehydrated ice cream.  I used to know the names of all the astronauts going to the moon with each mission.  I think it was just generally a big deal, something we were all proud of in the middle of the Cold War.
Posted by mica178[/QUOTE]

I wasn't born yet for Apollo, but I find it very fascinating. I used to go to lectures at the Air and Space Museum and got to meet Buzz Aldrin, Andrew Chaikin (he wrote a book about getting to the moon and the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon was based on it), and Harrison "Jack" Schmidt, the only geologist to step foot on the moon.

hcorr34

I was in 4th grade when the Challenger blew up.  We were watching it in class and when it exploded, the other 4th grade teacher screamed and then fainted.  Her sister was the 1st alternate teacher on the list if Krista McAuliffe didn't go.

The Columbia happened on a weekend.  I was coaching at a cheering competition and they stopped everything to announce it.  The big difference in the generations present was very obvious...the kids (middle - high schoolers) really couldn't have cared less.  The space program meant nothing to most them.  Like a PP said, we were immersed in it every time a shuttle went up...and then never heard a thing about anything after the Challenger.

Ciaram22

My husband was born in 73 and I was born in 86. He remebers it all. I wasn't born until a couple months after challenger. I do remember when the Columbia exploded though. I was really into anything space as a kid so I read books and watched lots of movies on space shuttles and the apollos.

aMrsin09

Oh Good Heavens! 

I was sitting in a BAR when Challenger blew up.  You young, young things.

Snippy, I wouldn't say Columbia was still in "space" when it happened.  It was on re-entry yes, but people in Texas (?) saw the fireball and people across Texas were finding chunks of it in their yards.