never thought in my lifetime

[yer ardy]

i would see two space shuttles lost ...
and it brings about terrible memories of 1986.

this is so sad .

[prism]

ick....I just turned on the t.v.

I wonder how long it'll take for this to be blamed on Iraq?

[luv2rok]

Very Sad :(

[Buannan]

you know prism...I guess I somewhat understand your frustration..but not everything is blamed on iraq
and they have said there is no indication of terrorism

this is a tragedy...a huge tragedy

I remember when challenger blew up....they announced it over the intercom at school...I was in calculus class...it effected all of us...if for no other reason than that all of our parents worked at thiokol...they all worked on the shuttle

such a very, very sad thing...and on re-entry? that is so strange...it appears it had made it through our atmoshere..so I can't imagine what happened

my heart goes out to the friends and family of those on board...as well as nasa and thiokol employees

[mensane]

i woke up and turned on the computer.....and as much as i loathe the fact that i have AOL...they do have the headlines on the openig page...if it werent for that, i might never know what it is going on...

....i stared at it for about a minute before it registered. then i turned on the tv...and saw the news conference by the president.

...and then the tears came....in gushes......it brought it all back.

back to 1986....i was in 6th grade..Lincoln Elementary in Plant City, Florida....we were all so excited...because even though my science teacher, Ms. Longfellow hadn't been chosen as the teacher in space, she was among the last round of finalists and wasn't bitter.....she was honored to have been considered and was so hopeful about the teacher in space program. her enthusiasm rubbed off on everyone in my school.

so, the morning of the launch, the whole school gathered on the P.E. field to watch. (anyone who lives in florida knows how exciting it was to stop everything and watch the liftoffs that could be seen thoughout the state--especially back in the early years of the shuttle program). it was a big party. classes for most of the day were cancelled for this huge event. our class felt so cool because it was OUR teacher that almost went...

when it came time for the lauch, everyone was silent...until we saw the first light of the shuttle...then we cheered...celebrations...then the explosion...a whole school that knew something was wrong...even the 6th graders knew...we had seen too many of these launches to not notice that something was different..

the P.E. field was closest to my building...so everyone crowded into the common area in the middle of the pod. we turned on the T.V. and saw that the shuttle had exploded. the whole school was so sad. i cried for days....my teacher was so strong.

i had always wanted to be an astronaut. didnt everyone at some point? i was obsessed with NASA. the challenger explosion didnt change that....but somehow intensified it.

and now columbia is gone....god, how many times have i seen columbia launch into space? its like a piece of my childhood...a piece that is gone.

this is indeed a very sad day.

my prayers go to the families of these astronauts...i guess the only thing i can be thankful for is that it was on re-entry, so they were at least able to realize the dream of going into space.

[yer ardy]

that's quite a memory, shayley.
thanks for sharing....

[peacefulness]

Well, I was 4 in 1986, so I don't remember the Challenger thing. But this is something I'll always remember.

I found out at work today. I work for an answering service. We had a lot of calls from news people calling many of our customers they thought would be able to give them information on the two people with connections to Lubbock (1 is a Texas Tech grad and the other went to Coronado High School, a lubbock high school). It was kinda wierd to be getting those kinda calls, esp. since there wasn't much we could do about them.

I think terrorism is a concern about this because of the fact that the first israeli was on board, and I think their will be conspiracy theorist on both sides will want to pressume that it was terrorism, which worries me. But right now it really is too soon and too little is known to say what happened exactly. Not to mention, because of the Israeli on board partly, security and extra-precautions were taken to avoid any terrorism, making it less likely.

I haven't been watching the news much, but I've been told that the "locals" that have been interviewed seem to be the biggest hicks. Not too surprised. I guess that's a side issue, but surely some intelligent people witnessed it as well.

I hear that much of the debris landed in Nacodoches, TX. I almost went to college there. This is wild stuff. It hasn't quite hit me yet though.

~Melanie

[rockrighter]

I wonder how many people were insulted by the newsfolk who felt the pressing need to assure the masses that there was no indication of terrorism, despite the impossibility of it all.

[peacefulness]

http://media.universitydaily.net/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/3e3dbc505fd8f-96-1.jpg

Here are the articles from the University Daily (Texas Tech Paper) today.

http://www.universitydaily.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/02/03/3e3dbbccefee1

http://www.universitydaily.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/02/03/3e3dbc505fd8f

~Melanie

[panthergirl]

so so sad....but
the thing that gets to me is...every time you see the pictures of the crew...do they not seem totally happy and enjoying themselves?! laughing and smiling...a happy family :)
what a wonderful thing: to enjoy your job so much...to be an adventurer....to go for it ..totally and completely.

It is such a horrible, horrendous and gut-wrenching loss ... but there is a bit of consolation in the fact that those brave people were doing something they truly wanted to do.
They are very inspiring.