I was in Kindergarden when this happened. I had before that wanted to be an astronaut (I even had books on the space shuttle and everything) and this kind of killed it for me when I saw it. Anyone else remember where they were when this happened? I think this is the first "where were you when you found out?" event of our generation.

[Edited on January 28, 2006 at 10:23 AM. Reason : .]

1/28/2006 10:22:49 AM

3rd grade

lunch time

kablooey

3 days after that i heard the now infamous "What does NASA stand for?" joke

1/28/2006 10:29:27 AM

i was in Kindergarden also...I remember vaguely being in the car w/ mom in the pickup line and we listened to it on the radio

1/28/2006 10:36:24 AM

I was probably supposed to be in Kindergarten, but my mom home taught me at the time and she was in the hospital giving birth to my baby bro. I remember going in to see my brother for the first time ever and then heading out to the waiting room where I saw the news.

1/28/2006 10:38:53 AM

They said that the astronauts did not die instantly. In fact, they could have been alive for 3 more minutes until they hit the water.

NASA doesn't like to talk about this.

1/28/2006 11:14:35 AM

I just remember being confused and afraid... and my parents trying to tell me that they were ok, they were in Heaven now. I guess like you woiuld try to explain the death of a pet to a child.

1/28/2006 12:07:23 PM

i was in kindergarten. my teacher found out somehow and took us outside and we looked at the smoke and what not. i dont really remember the teacher really explaining what it was, but i'm glad she took us out to see it anyway.

1/28/2006 1:41:11 PM

kindergarten, my teacher ms. severance turned the tv off, started crying, and our parents came and got us. i remember being confused and not quite connecting death to the fiery explosion we just saw.

1/28/2006 3:55:12 PM

3rd grade, over the intercom....

1/28/2006 4:01:08 PM

the day it happend (I was watching it on TV with AVON) our dad was shacking an aerosol can in the next room. The can exploded... blowing his thumb almost off, then blew a whole in our wall, came back around (new hole) and hit him in the chest. It was a great day. Of course he sued to cover the medical reattachement of his thumb, came out even ($46k) but the next day after his case got settled a lady got $250k for being pinched on the butt. He has hatted be a white anglo-saxon male ever since.

1/28/2006 6:10:06 PM

I was in kindergarten, don't remember it at all. Sad thing is ex-gf's birthday was the day it happened, so she's got to deal with the 20th anniv news today

[Edited on January 28, 2006 at 7:06 PM. Reason : ---]

1/28/2006 7:00:29 PM

need another seven astronauts

I vaguely remember that from the ripe old age of 4, wondering if it'd kill space travel.

1/28/2006 9:46:09 PM

2nd grade, tv

1/28/2006 10:23:27 PM

Quote :

"kindergarten, my teacher ms. severance turned the tv off, started crying, and our parents came and got us. i remember being confused and not quite connecting death to the fiery explosion we just saw."

exactly except my teacher was Ms. Way

1/29/2006 1:58:58 PM

sitting in kindergarten, pasting shit together and watching other kids eat the paste

1/29/2006 3:43:55 PM

I was in first grade watching it on TV in the cafeteria. I don't remember how they handled it.

1/29/2006 9:16:27 PM

kindergaarten, wow.

6th grade

1/29/2006 9:23:28 PM

i was in the 3rd grade whole class was watching it on TV and i remember it blowing up and thinking, was it supposed to do that and then the teacher turned off the tv quickly and said "that wasnt good, that wasnt supposed to happen"

1/30/2006 1:51:27 AM

i was in kindergarten at the time... the thing i remember most about it was that after it happened i said to everyone that IN A WAY this explosion is a good thing because it would force NASA to take a good look at the shuttle and correct and renovate the system so that future tragic system failures could be reduced or avoided.


the teacher told my parents she was worried about my mental state

1/30/2006 2:51:20 AM

7th grade. school library. was one of the three uber-geeky science nerds in the school at the time, so the teacher had let me and the 2 others go to the library to watch the launch. when it blew up, the librarian just lost it and went to tell all the teachers. we sat glued to the set watching the replay over and over and over.

1/30/2006 8:05:42 AM

1st grade. our class watched it.

i was fortunate enough to meet Ronald McNair prior to his death. My next door neighbor in Greensboro was one of his professors at A&T.

1/30/2006 9:26:20 AM

i thought i was in fourth grade, but it could have been 2nd based on johnboy being in 1st. One of my sisters roomies at Peace was the neice of the pilot of the challenger. i remember my sis telling me the reporters came around looking for her around the 10 year anniversary.

1/30/2006 11:51:58 AM

I was also in kindergarten. I don't think we were watching it in class because we didn't have a cable TV in the classroom, so I actually don't have a clear memory of exactly when I heard.

A friend of mine who grew up about 20 miles from Daytona said that his school went outside to watch the launch, since you could see it from that distance, and saw it explode in person.

1/30/2006 2:28:59 PM

I think I had a dentist appointment that day. I remember coming back to school and everyone being real quiet about the shuttle launch.

1/30/2006 8:36:31 PM

My dad had an arose can explode in his hand 3 hours after -- blew his thumb off, etc (they reattached everything).
I think it was from the shock-wave....

1/30/2006 9:41:37 PM

I was in third grade. We were in class watching the take-off on TV.

2/5/2006 9:32:05 AM

2nd grade

i also remember watching interviews with astronauts i guess few days before the take off.

[Edited on February 11, 2006 at 1:30 AM. Reason : hjk]

2/11/2006 1:29:57 AM