32 years ago today.....Challenger space shuttle explosion
 

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President Reagan's remarks following the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger and her crew.

Broadcast at 5 p.m. EST, Jan. 28, 1986.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering.

Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

I was in Jax then...came back from lunch and watched the news with everyone else....very sad day....RIP.

32 years ago I was 21 and in the Army (Medic).

I clearly remember the event and news reports but what stands out the most is the findings of the investigation (O rings).

RIP.

Never forget. I was driving, heard on radio, had to pull over.

Hard to believe it's been that long ago . I remember that day all too well a sad day for the nation .

I was a senior in high school I remember a student coming into class telling the teacher what happened and the teacher saying " That's not possible the shuttle can't just explode."

I was at the counter of NOPI auto parts in Doraville GA when I heard about it. Drove my car down the street to Z Car Atlanta to tell my friends and we watched it on tv.

I remember I was working at TGI Friday’s in Atlanta (Sandy Springs) when Columbia landed. Everyone was clapping and cheering. Good times.

I had just walked in to Measurements class in engineering school when the professor told us the news. Four years later, I was working for McDonnell Douglas supporting the first "return to flight" launch (STS-35, Astro-1).

I was in 5th grade. We watched the coverage in class on CCTV.

Reagan was a good spokesman. He was like the grandfather everyone wished they had.

I was at sea - read about it on the daily message traffic. Did not see the video until weeks later.

I was a senior and I was in pre-calc class when an aid came in, took the teacher aside and spoke to him. He was very shaken and left. The aid then told the class what happened to the orbiter. He was one of the finalists as teacher in space.

I lost a lot of respect for NASA in the months that followed between the outright lies and fly at all cost mentality. Normalization of deviance I think they call it now.

I remember it happening, and watching it on TV, but I have absolutely no idea where I was or what I was doing. I was 15 and probably in school.

I was in 5th or 6th grade, remember watching it on the tv cart.

I was in college when I heard. Went back to watch the coverage on my little black and white TV. Sickened by the cruel jokes that followed. I guess that's how some people handle emotions.

I was working in a machine shop for a Nazi. No joke I will get back to that in a minute.*

He would hassle us if we stopped working to watch the launch even though we were about 50 miles from the launchpad and the building shook during the launch. I decided to not go out and see this one and keep working so as to avoid the hassle. Plus it was freaking cold out that morning I decided to stay inside where it was warm.

Then I heard the percussion of the explosion and knew something was wrong, I switched off my lathe and started to walk outside, another guy in the shop was running in, his face was white and he was shook up.

I looked past him and saw the two plumes going in different directions. I knew what had happened.

After that I seemed to always be around some sort of NASA related incident.

I eventually went to work for a pump company that supplies huge pumps to farms, theme parks, flood control etc.. Morton-Thiakol, who made the SRB's came to our company and inquired if we could make a huge go/no-go guage that would slide inside the boosters so they could ensure perfect and total roundness. We worked up a quote for them and never heard from them again.

Then I went to work for a Land Surveying Company that was located on Merritt Island just outside the gates of the space center. We did a ton of work for NASA, I was on property quite often and did a lot of surveying work related to pads and surrounding structures.

I remember the re-launch very well, we were standing in our office parking lot, everyone was a nervous wreck. No one wanted to see that ever again. Plus the economy of the area could not take another hit like that.


* My old boss was literally a Nazi, he was from Germany and would make statements like, Hitler had the right ideas he just did not execute them correctly.
He was a nutjob and I hated working for him, I think I lasted there 6 months.

I was a junior in high school (Sarasota High), sitting in Mr. Suarez's mechanical drawing/drafting class. We got an announcement over the school PA system. Mr. Suarez turned on the TV and we watched in complete silence...speechless.

Edit: and I remember it being a really cold morning, especially for South FL.

I had finished a pacific crossing the night before, backwards from my usual route. Long story short, was home on the Strand eating b-fast facing the sunny Pacific watching the launch.

Will never forget the smoking debris falling from altitude and knowing one of them was probably the crew compartment. And then, the faces of Christa's parents trying to imagine what had just happened.

For years, I always stopped my bike ride/walk to sit on the bench in Manhattan Beach that was dedicated to several of the crewmembers, but mostly Ron McNair, who lived next door to me in Manhattan Beach.

He receives lots of attention here locally too....attended a local university for his bachelors degree. He must've been something special...all of them were imo.