Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, 73 seconds after takeoff.
30 years ago today
Quote: Jack F @ 28th January 2016, 10:43 PM GMTSpace Shuttle Challenger exploded, 73 seconds after takeoff.
I lived in Florida in the 70s and 80s, so I'd always step outside to watch the shuttle launches from about 150 miles away. But not that day, because I was in Army basic training. One of the guys ran up the barracks stairs and breathlessly exclaimed, "The space shuttle blew up!"
I don't even know how he learned about the disaster, since we had no access to TV, radio or newspapers. I'm sure the media replayed the video a million times over the next few weeks, but by the time I regained my freedom and left basic training a month later the coverage had wound down and it was probably 6 months before I saw the video of the spacecraft's demise.
The government had spent billions to build a shuttle launch complex at Vandenberg AFB in California and they were only a few months away from their first launch, but the post-Challenger grounding of the shuttle fleet prompted them to abandon the plan. Too bad, because my next duty station (doing satellite communications stuff, coincidentally) was only 50 miles away and I would have had a great view of launches from Vandenberg.
About 15 years ago I worked with a guy who piloted one of the early shuttle flights. Another guy in our company was selected to be an astronaut but never flew.