What were you doing

goose63 · January 28, 2016, 08:40:03 AM

30 years ago today ?

I woke up in the V. A. after a operation for cancer and the space shuttle looked like a big bottle rocket

LeeB · January 28, 2016, 08:42:42 AM

Working on a drilling rig in the G.O.M. off the coast of Louisiana. Can't remember if I had already gone to bed or not. I know I was working nights when it happened.

thecfarm · January 28, 2016, 08:51:41 AM

Working for the low income winterizing a house in Wilton. I still know what house too. The women came out of the house and told us what happened. We all went in to see the tragic event.
Has it really been 30 years??

WV Sawmiller · January 28, 2016, 08:54:14 AM

RSO 4th Marines at Camp Schwab Okinawa Japan. Had been there about 2-3 weeks and trying to get a budget submitted and unscramble the finances my predecessor had left me. Painful at the time but turned out to be a real nice tour.

Corley5 · January 28, 2016, 08:59:57 AM

I was a junior in high school and we were walking back to the high school from the elementary school cafeteria after lunch. Wendy Flemish now Wendy Babcock came up to Doug Ford and I and told us the Shuttle had blown up. We didn't believe it. When we got to the school the principal, Mr. Martin, motioned us into his office to see the footage on TV :( :(

Roger2561 · January 28, 2016, 09:12:03 AM

I was at work listening to music on the radio when the program was interrupted for a special news bulletin. I turned off the radio, went one of the conference rooms and turned on the TV. I think better than 60% of the employees were gathered around that TV.

grweldon · January 28, 2016, 09:28:47 AM

I was stationed in Neu-Ulm, West Germany in the Army. I was entering a computer program into my Atari 800XL computer. My wife and I had the TV on watching the launch with the volume down as it was a German station. As the explosion occurred, I told my wife that something was wrong... THAT wasn't supposed to happen. Tuned to Armed Forces Radio and nobody was coming out directly saying what happened for quite a few minutes, other than a "launch anomaly".

Cedarman · January 28, 2016, 10:00:23 AM

Was in a cedar thicket whacking trees. Took a break and was listening to the radio when it happened. Don't know why I stopped when I did just to listen to the radio. Unusual to park so close to where I was cutting. Vivid.

LaneC · January 28, 2016, 11:59:38 AM

I was on my first trip offshore. I went out with a buddy of mine on a pipe laying/derrick barge. My first trip, I rode with him and his face got smashed by a 40 foot length of pipe that fell from the crane, bounced and hit him. I saw them taking him to the heliport so he could be airlifted, but I did not know it was him until the next day. His face was bad and we had 300 something people on board. I was able to get home (6 weeks later) by getting a ride to the bus station. Not a welcome that you want in any career, however the oilfield is a very dangerous place to make a living.

Dave Shepard · January 28, 2016, 12:05:26 PM

In Mr Alvarez's class watching it happen on TV.

Ron Wenrich · January 28, 2016, 12:17:15 PM

Sawing. Heard about it on the way home.

Jeff · January 28, 2016, 01:02:20 PM

I was pulling into the sawmill after running home for lunch when I heard it on the truck radio. Most of my where were you moments from 1979 to 2005 are answered with at the sawmill. I do remember the night of Shock and Awe" we were at a lasagna party hosted by our sawmill's truck driver.

DanG · January 28, 2016, 01:17:20 PM

Like most of you, I was at work. Some guy's wife called and told him about it so we turned on the TV. Not much work got done that afternoon.

Ljohnsaw · January 28, 2016, 01:32:14 PM

I only recall watching it live and, if that's the case, I must have been in the Dispatch Center at work (electric power company) as they were the only ones who had a TV on (all the time).

GAB · January 28, 2016, 01:47:50 PM

At the time I was the fuel sensor and wiring harness manufacturing to engineering liaison, and I heard it on the radio as I was traveling from the assembly plant back to the engineering office.
Gerald

Roxie · January 28, 2016, 01:56:10 PM

My boss had given me permission to take my lunch hour during the expected launch time. I was home with the TV on in my easy chair. Spent the better half of my break trying to pull myself together.

JJ · January 28, 2016, 02:23:49 PM

I was in school, 11'th grade watching it on TV for science class as they had Christa McAuliffe, a school teacher as passenger.
They sent us home early after.

JJ

Dan_Shade · January 28, 2016, 02:47:54 PM

I was in the 6th grade, some students were picked at random to watch the launch in the school library.

I wasn't in the library, but remember thinking other students were kidding when they said it exploded when they came back to the classroom.

Papa1stuff · January 28, 2016, 02:50:10 PM

I was home and outside my house watching the launch as it could be see clearly from where I live. It was very shocking to say the least and took a minute to sink in to what had just happened before our eyes. pretty heart breaking for sure!!

Ocklawahaboy · January 28, 2016, 03:01:49 PM

In ms Cushman's first grade class. We had written a letter to Christa McAuliffe as a class project a few weeks earlier. They broke the news to us and we didn't really understand the ramifications for a while. Everyone I know saw the cloud from the explosion but they kept us in class.

When Columbia went I was driving to meet a group of NASA employees and their kids for a hike. That was interesting....

Chuck White · January 28, 2016, 03:03:51 PM

I was just starting my second year being stationed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.

Just about 3 years before my USAF Retirement!

WmFritz · January 28, 2016, 04:07:34 PM

Chuck, my Dad was stationed there around the time I was born. He absolutely loved his time in Alaska.

I was working construction in Denver on a high-rise building, when the Challenger disaster happened.

Brian_Weekley · January 28, 2016, 04:36:03 PM

We just came home from the vet after putting my wife's 18 year old cat down. Turned on the TV and we started crying all over again. Talk about a double whammy... :'(

coxy · January 28, 2016, 06:30:37 PM

sitting on my bench in the principal office keeping him company like I did every day :D :D

GAB · January 28, 2016, 07:37:16 PM

Quote from: coxy on January 28, 2016, 06:30:37 PM
sitting on my bench in the principal office keeping him company like I did every day :D :D

Question: Are you telling us that in the good old days - you weren't good, and you weren't old.
Gerald

samandothers · January 28, 2016, 07:44:10 PM

In a training class at work.

tule peak timber · January 28, 2016, 07:48:16 PM

I was on the 250 fathom curve due west of San Miguel Island long-lining Blackgill.

dgdrls · January 28, 2016, 08:48:14 PM

Measuring a property line in the Hudson Valley,
Working along the east side of the Hudson River between Cold Spring and Beacon.
We finished our day and stopped for a Pint, news came on and we were stunned.

Sad day indeed,

Dan

Logger RK · January 28, 2016, 09:55:02 PM

Pulled into the logging job & land owners kid told me about it. But knowing the kid was known for smoking funny cigarettes I didn't believe him till I turned the radio on. Since on January 2nd that year my Father Passed Away at age 55 it's easy 2 remember. I thought to myself,1986 isn't starting out to good.

yukon cornelius · January 28, 2016, 11:09:15 PM

We were living at my grandparents house as my family was building a new house. I was at home from school since I had just had my tonsils removed. The launch was a big deal for us because a family friend was a teacher who had been in the final running to be on that shuttle. I remember waking up and watching it on TV. A tragedy for sure.

scgargoyle · January 29, 2016, 06:25:34 AM

I was at work in west central FL. Since we could see the launches from there, we all went outside to watch. I do remember it was very cold ( for FL). We knew when we saw it break up that something was wrong, and learned of the tragedy on the radio when we went back inside.

coxy · January 29, 2016, 06:44:43 AM

Quote from: GAB on January 28, 2016, 07:37:16 PM
Quote from: coxy on January 28, 2016, 06:30:37 PM
sitting on my bench in the principal office keeping him company like I did every day :D :D

Question: Are you telling us that in the good old days - you weren't good, and you weren't old.
Gerald

Dakota · January 29, 2016, 09:54:52 AM

I was truckn' down the road between Salt Lake City and Boise, not too far from Thiokol, the maker of the 0-ring.

petefrom bearswamp · January 29, 2016, 12:04:27 PM

When I left to go mark timber in the AM the launch was on hold due to low temp.
Got home about 4:45 and asked my daughters if they got the thing up.
Was stunned to hear about the explosion.

Just Me · January 29, 2016, 01:00:45 PM

I was there in the viewing area with my daughter who was 9 at the time. Tough lesson for her. Hell, it was tough on me.

Kbeitz · January 30, 2016, 08:58:31 PM

Trimming Christmas trees....

Martha White Nelson · February 06, 2016, 10:42:22 AM

I was in college, and was also tutoring disadvantaged adults that were going to college. I was in the office where the TV was, and we were watching. It was so sad.