January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster.

[Taltarzac725]

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster)

I recall I was working at Information Access Company (IAC) in Belmont, CA when this happened and the Editors were busy creating indexing terms for the IAC products that covered national and international news.

This company sold various indexes to libraries across the United States.

My supervisor Bob Lee was in tears much of the day, unfortunately as were many of us.

I ran into a few of these IAC workers again in 1989 when I was attending the American Association of Law Libraries convention in Reno, Nevada having just graduated from the U of MN Law School and while working at their law library and indexing all the computer files on WESTLAW. WESTLAW was a product of West Publishng Company which is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Believe, that, unfortunately Bob Lee had passed by then. I do not believe many of my fellow IAC workers thought I would get through law school at the U of MN as one of my supervisors had also graduated from the U of MN Law School.

The best friend of my girlfriend/roommate in development in the Summer of 1989 worked for NASA as a computer programmer or something like that. I do not believe she was there in 1986 though.

Events like these and their anniversaries do bring back memories.

[asianthree]

We watch the launches from our back yard in TV. Did anyone here witness Challenger that day, and did you know you just witnessed a disaster that will be forever in your memory?

[Taltarzac725]

We watch the launches from our back yard in TV. Did anyone here witness Challenger that day, and did you know you just witnessed a disaster that will be forever in your memory?

I do see some of the launches from here in the Villages. Would like to feel one though from a few miles away. We have lived here in Florida since 1996 and I still have not been to the Atlantic Ocean in Florida. I did see it from above in an airplane-- the Atlantic Ocean.

[asianthree]

I do see some of the launches from here in the Villages. Would like to feel one though from a few miles away. We have lived here in Florida since 1996 and I still have not been to the Atlantic Ocean in Florida. I did see it from above in an airplane-- the Atlantic Ocean.

We have been lucky growing up, we had a condo on Tampa Bay, and a cottage in Orange County, you could see the ocean, but not on it. Yet I have never witnessed a launch up close either. We are going to get a launch day package, this year. Just watching from TV is great, but right on campus will be awesome

[Bay Kid]

I was watching the launch that day. I was devastated.

[Tvflguy]

So sad. How inept and bull-headed NASA and gvt management gave the green light to launch DESPITE warning from some mid-level Engineers.

Even after all the investigations they were not shamed and litigated for taking the lives and launching with known issues re the seals and low temps.

Horrible. Every time I see the video my heart sinks for the families watching their loved ones death up there.

[HandyGrandpap]

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster)

I recall I was working at Information Access Company (IAC) in Belmont, CA when this happened and the Editors were busy creating indexing terms for the IAC products that covered national and international news.

This company sold various indexes to libraries across the United States.

My supervisor Bob Lee was in tears much of the day, unfortunately as were many of us.

I ran into a few of these IAC workers again in 1989 when I was attending the American Association of Law Libraries convention in Reno, Nevada having just graduated from the U of MN Law School and while working at their law library and indexing all the computer files on WESTLAW. WESTLAW was a product of West Publishng Company which is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Believe, that, unfortunately Bob Lee had passed by then. I do not believe many of my fellow IAC workers thought I would get through law school at the U of MN as one of my supervisors had also graduated from the U of MN Law School.

The best friend of my girlfriend/roommate in development in the Summer of 1989 worked for NASA as a computer programmer or something like that. I do not believe she was there in 1986 though.

Events like these and their anniversaries do bring back memories.

Thanks for the link, very interested with great detail,

[Altavia]

Very sad day indeed.

As Technician for Bell Labs, I saw (felt) the Apollo-Soyuz launch from bleachers in front of the VAB, about 3 miles away.

Amazing machine designed by engineers using drawing boards and slide rules.

Years later we developed a biology payload that flew on Columbia which was tragically lost on re-entry.

https://mars.gmu.edu/jspui/bitstream/handle/1920/2048/107_mpfe.pdf

[coconutmama]

Thank you OP for this commemorative post. A sad day indeed. I recall being on the phone with my brother while the launch was being televised. I shouted to him that it had gone wrong & he didn’t believe me. I guess we had gotten too complacent about the miracle of space exploration. I still hold my breath every time we watch one from our yard.

[Annie66]

I was the XO of a destroyer operating off the coast of Cuba. We were too far south to see the launch, but within minutes we received orders to proceed at best speed to the vicinity of Port Canaveral to help with the supposed recovery operations. After about 4 hours running at full speed, we were ordered to return to normal ops.

Once the reason for our northbound orders became clear, I spoke to the crew over our general announcing system. Throughout the rest of the day, it wasn't uncommon to see sailors with tears in their eyes. It was truly an emotional day.

[jrzeis@tampabay.rr.com]

Working in Tampa, you could look down Polk Street standing in the railroad tracks, and it would line up perfectly with the launch. I do remember watching as the two boosters took off in different directions and the flame and exhaust trail just suddenly ended. I was watching with several friends, and we all agreed something bad had happened. We ran inside and listed to the radio I remember them saying that Houston we have an anomaly.

[flsteve]

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster)

I recall I was working at Information Access Company (IAC) in Belmont, CA when this happened and the Editors were busy creating indexing terms for the IAC products that covered national and international news.

This company sold various indexes to libraries across the United States.

My supervisor Bob Lee was in tears much of the day, unfortunately as were many of us.

I ran into a few of these IAC workers again in 1989 when I was attending the American Association of Law Libraries convention in Reno, Nevada having just graduated from the U of MN Law School and while working at their law library and indexing all the computer files on WESTLAW. WESTLAW was a product of West Publishng Company which is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

Believe, that, unfortunately Bob Lee had passed by then. I do not believe many of my fellow IAC workers thought I would get through law school at the U of MN as one of my supervisors had also graduated from the U of MN Law School.

The best friend of my girlfriend/roommate in development in the Summer of 1989 worked for NASA as a computer programmer or something like that. I do not believe she was there in 1986 though.

Events like these and their anniversaries do bring back memories.

Yes, I remember that day VERY well. Having worked with the crew that died, I watched the mishap from the parking lot of the VPF (Vertical Processing Facility), where the TDRS payload and Boeing IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) was sitting just days earlier.

I had "walked down" the payload with the crew looking for and noting any snag points/concerns/sharp edges that could tear space suits should an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) be required. I had sat for hours upon hours with Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka wearing bunny suits during the ground testing of the payload.

All of us working at the Cape knew the mission as 51L, as that was the only identification we used back then for each mission. I was on a special team designed to deploy to any part of the world should the Shuttle be force to abort to an alternative landing site. Passports, visas, shots, and all entry requirements for different countries were in place to facilitate the quick response to an aborted mission at different points of ascent. Even the "pitch-around" abort, designed to mitigate a low ascent anomaly was an established abort sequence that would involve returning to the SLF (Shuttle Landing Facility) was part of the crew response.

It was THAT response that seemed apparent at the immediate onset of the mishap. Those with me in the parking lot of the VPF that day watched in complete unbelief that something like this was actually happening. They responded, "Pack your bags! You're headed out buddy!"

At least that was for about the first 45 seconds or so... the public speaker announcements went silent. The official OIS channel 212 commentary was sparse, and uncharacteristically somber as I walked the few steps inside the VPF OSB (operational support building) to listen. The response from my other team members was tragic unbelief. Tears, questions, and shreds of hope from possibilities that would not come. We had been going faster and faster with missions to a point that many called it "Mission-itis", and the launch on this day with the extreme weather represented the apex of that state.

The Cape was locked down. No personell to enter nor leave. Within the hour, I found myself dispatched to the LCC (Launch Control Center). An armed guard unsealed the door to the LCC and ushered me inside, as he then closed and re-locked the door, stationing himself again to prevent any entry from outside. I was instructed to remove any and all paperwork from the launch consoles, including trash cans, and sequester these items for subsequent investigation.

Nobody ever thought that a loss like that would ever ACTUALLY happen. Within 3 years, I moved to the unmanned Titan program with the Air Force instead of NASA; and that is where I eventually retired from nearly 3 years ago now. The 51L mission loss was an event that changed my life direction.

[Taltarzac725]

Yes, I remember that day VERY well. Having worked with the crew that died, I watched the mishap from the parking lot of the VPF (Vertical Processing Facility), where the TDRS payload and Boeing IUS (Inertial Upper Stage) was sitting just days earlier.

I had "walked down" the payload with the crew looking for and noting any snag points/concerns/sharp edges that could tear space suits should an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) be required. I had sat for hours upon hours with Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka wearing bunny suits during the ground testing of the payload.

All of us working at the Cape knew the mission as 51L, as that was the only identification we used back then for each mission. I was on a special team designed to deploy to any part of the world should the Shuttle be force to abort to an alternative landing site. Passports, visas, shots, and all entry requirements for different countries were in place to facilitate the quick response to an aborted mission at different points of ascent. Even the "pitch-around" abort, designed to mitigate a low ascent anomaly was an established abort sequence that would involve returning to the SLF (Shuttle Landing Facility) was part of the crew response.

It was THAT response that seemed apparent at the immediate onset of the mishap. Those with me in the parking lot of the VPF that day watched in complete unbelief that something like this was actually happening. They responded, "Pack your bags! You're headed out buddy!"

At least that was for about the first 45 seconds or so... the public speaker announcements went silent. The official OIS channel 212 commentary was sparse, and uncharacteristically somber as I walked the few steps inside the VPF OSB (operational support building) to listen. The response from my other team members was tragic unbelief. Tears, questions, and shreds of hope from possibilities that would not come. We had been going faster and faster with missions to a point that many called it "Mission-itis", and the launch on this day with the extreme weather represented the apex of that state.

The Cape was locked down. No personell to enter nor leave. Within the hour, I found myself dispatched to the LCC (Launch Control Center). An armed guard unsealed the door to the LCC and ushered me inside, as he then closed and re-locked the door, stationing himself again to prevent any entry from outside. I was instructed to remove any and all paperwork from the launch consoles, including trash cans, and sequester these items for subsequent investigation.

Nobody ever thought that a loss like that would ever ACTUALLY happen. Within 3 years, I moved to the unmanned Titan program with the Air Force instead of NASA; and that is where I eventually retired from nearly 3 years ago now. The 51L mission loss was an event that changed my life direction.

That must have been very traumatic to be so close to the people who passed.