26 years ago today

[Little-Acorn]

26 years ago today, on Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off the pad for its journey into space.

73 seconds later, it exploded, and was lost with all hands.

It was eventually determined that an O-ring sealing one of the solid rocket boosters failed, after exposure to low temperatures outside its design specification. Warnings from engineers were disregarded, and the failure of the O-ring sent a jet of flame into an external fuel tank and some of the mounting hardware for the rocket booster.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Challenger_explosion.jpg/740px-Challenger_explosion.jpg

[ConHog]

26 years ago today, on Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off the pad for its journey into space.

73 seconds later, it exploded, and was lost with all hands.

It was eventually determined that an O-ring sealing one of the solid rocket boosters failed, after exposure to low temperatures outside its design specification. Warnings from engineers were disregarded, and the failure of the O-ring sent a jet of flame into an external fuel tank and some of the mounting hardware for the rocket booster.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Challenger_explosion.jpg/740px-Challenger_explosion.jpg

I still remember where I was that day. Happened to have stayed home from school sick. Terrible tragedy.

[Mr. P]

Saw it and will never forget the last transmissions or voices.."Challenger, you're go for throttle up"...." Roger, Go for throttle up".

Tragic last words and visual burned in my mind forever.

:salute:

[SassyLady]

Was at work and we were watching on TV....extreme sadness and grief.

[Little-Acorn]

I was at the BMEWS radar site ten miles from Thule, Greenland. Was in the 2nd day of a four-day arctic hurricane (called Phase storms in those parts), fairly common around there in winter. No one is allowed to step outside any building till one of those is over. It was three more days before I could get back to Thule main base and see pics.

And a month before I next saw the sun.

[pegwinn]

Was in the CTA on Okinawa doing workups for the next float to Korea. We got the word over the tactical net. I still remember thinking that some SOB radio operator was gonna get hammered for broadcasting BS over the net.