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With all the noise going on, remember this tragedy.... (Original Post) Heartstrings Jan 2020 OP
sacrificed for the marketing of Reaganism Hermit-The-Prog Jan 2020 #1
Yup. denbot Jan 2020 #3
Exactly! Duppers Jan 2020 #19
K and R for visability... Stuart G Jan 2020 #2
Kick democrank Jan 2020 #4
Brave pioneers. American's Finest. We cared, We cried, We mourned, We remember. nt UniteFightBack Jan 2020 #5
A horrible and... Snackshack Jan 2020 #6
The SRBs were segmented ONLY because a certain Senator from lapfog_1 Jan 2020 #11
It turned into "the perfect storm" for disaster. Duppers Jan 2020 #20
I saw it from about 100 miles away. lpbk2713 Jan 2020 #7
I saw it and most launches from Stuart Fl. diverdownjt Jan 2020 #22
Saw it live too. Tommy_Carcetti Jan 2020 #25
and while we are remembering... Feb 1, 2003 lapfog_1 Jan 2020 #8
That must've been awful for you. Duppers Jan 2020 #21
I remember Demovictory9 Jan 2020 #9
I was thinking of them today and the tragic deaths in the Kobi accident katmondoo Jan 2020 #10
Wasn't that where the o-ring was defective? lunatica Jan 2020 #12
Not exactly. B Stieg Jan 2020 #13
Yes. I remember the teacher lunatica Jan 2020 #16
Yep we watched it in history hour in elementary school. Volaris Jan 2020 #17
Many thanks for that link. Duppers Jan 2020 #23
My pleasure. B Stieg Jan 2020 #24
And don't forget to remember the heroism rocktivity Jan 2020 #14
And Apollo 1 was on January 27th, 1967. Dem2theMax Jan 2020 #15
But Reagan's heart was in the right place? czarjak Jan 2020 #18
I remember this tragedy well. gademocrat7 Jan 2020 #26
In 90s learned colleague in ed dept had been on finalist list with Christa bobbieinok Jan 2020 #27
Watched it on TV while it happened. Son was senior in HS bobbieinok Jan 2020 #28

Duppers

(28,094 posts)
19. Exactly!
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 02:57 AM
Jan 2020

Hubs worked at NASALarc & called me that morning, telling me he told his branch head it was too cold to launch. There were components that had not been tested at freezing and hubs was really worried. Turned out to be the O-rings that couldn't seal at that temp. Leaked fuel.

Reagan was pushing because of the teacher onboard and HQ didn't want to disappoint the president. It was not the scientists or engineers fault but the uppity-ups sucking up to Reagun.

I cried all day.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
11. The SRBs were segmented ONLY because a certain Senator from
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:52 AM
Jan 2020

Utah insisted that Morton - Thiokol be allowed to bid on making them.

The other bidder could float the SRBs down the intercoastal waterway to the Cape for assembly and launch. They had to be segmented (with those crap ass O rings ) to allow shipment by rail from Utah.

lpbk2713

(42,696 posts)
7. I saw it from about 100 miles away.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:45 AM
Jan 2020


It felt kind of morbid to watch it come down because my friend and I knew no one was going to survive.

Tommy_Carcetti

(43,085 posts)
25. Saw it live too.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 07:25 AM
Jan 2020

Family was on vacation. We didn’t know what had happened until we got back in the car and turned on the radio.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
8. and while we are remembering... Feb 1, 2003
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:46 AM
Jan 2020


These two disasters book-ended my NASA career. When I joined not long after Challenger, many people that I worked with, especially the ones involved with either the launch systems or the post disaster analysis, suffered from (I am sure) PTSD.

The second disaster affected me personally as I knew "KC" Chawla... she had an office just down the row from mine. She was one of my most vocal users of the systems I built... and could be a hard critic or very warm co-worker. I had left NASA just shortly before the disaster.

katmondoo

(6,454 posts)
10. I was thinking of them today and the tragic deaths in the Kobi accident
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:49 AM
Jan 2020

Reagan was also in my thoughts, did he care?

B Stieg

(2,410 posts)
13. Not exactly.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 01:56 AM
Jan 2020

The o-rings were made to work within certain temperatures, but it wasn't just the cold day that led to them failing, apparently.

(https://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/researchernews/rn_Colloquium1012.html)

I was watching the launch before teaching my first class of the day (hs), and there was a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, on board.

I'll never forget it.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
16. Yes. I remember the teacher
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 02:40 AM
Jan 2020

Her class were watching the launch. She was the first, or one of the first civilians to go to space wasn’t she? It was a huge deal.

Duppers

(28,094 posts)
23. Many thanks for that link.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 03:29 AM
Jan 2020

Had missed reading this in "The Researcher." Forwarded it to hubs (spent his career at Langley, now retired).

rocktivity

(44,555 posts)
14. And don't forget to remember the heroism
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 01:59 AM
Jan 2020

Last edited Wed Jan 29, 2020, 12:47 PM - Edit history (1)

of the engineer who thought the launch should be stopped:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/101446387


rocktivity

Dem2theMax

(9,595 posts)
15. And Apollo 1 was on January 27th, 1967.
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 02:00 AM
Jan 2020

They all happened within days of each other, yet years apart.

To this day I remember how blue the sky was, the morning that Columbia broke up on re-entry. I remember how painful it was to look at that gorgeous blue sky, and to know that the crew would never again get to see it.

Apollo 1
Challenger
Columbia

bobbieinok

(12,858 posts)
27. In 90s learned colleague in ed dept had been on finalist list with Christa
Wed Jan 29, 2020, 09:22 AM
Jan 2020

IIRC he was a real sexist and said he lost because 'they' wanted a woman as teacher

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