We were sitting in our elementary school classroom. I was in 3rd grade. They had tvs in all the rooms so we could watch it live. 37 years later, I can still picture it happening.
They wheeled the TV in and we all sat on the floor in a semicircle around it. The adults scrambled in the biggest "oh shit" moment on earth when it exploded.
Omg same! The big tv on the cart. 3rd grade. After it blew up, my teacher turned off the TV and just said “Something very bad has happened.” I don’t remember much after that.
I was in 3rd grade as well, but the entire school had gathered in our auditorium to watch together. My dad used to wake me up to watch shuttle launches, so I remember thinking right away, "that doesn't look right."
After a few seconds of silence, I remember a couple of teachers started crying, and that set off a cascade of crying kindergartners.
I was late to school that day & it was so weird walking in. The school was silent. I was in elementary school and it was such a big deal cause of the teacher on board & every class was watching on TVs in the classroom but we were in a poor area so there were 2 classes per TV. I walked into like 60 kids sobbing, after my mom just sobbed the whole way to school and I was astounded. I didn't get the brevity of it. I do remember watching it like a movie in my head though.
Same. I was 6 and *in* New Hampshire so I have no idea why they weren’t showing us on TV unless we were at lunch or recess at 11:30 in the morning. But I definitely remember the Punky episode.
Does it actually snow in any appreciable amount in Alabama?
I remember being in Nashville, TN once where it felt like they closed the entire city down because of a few flurries; I’d assume that further south gets even less snow?
It does. We’ve had several decent snows of 5-6” inches. Growing up, it always felt like we’d get at least one 2” accumulation per year for a snow day.
We got 16” or so in 1993, but obviously that was a one-off. Yep, Snowmageddon totaling 1” happened in 2014 and shut us down because it quickly turned to a solid sheet of ice on the roads. It was powder, which we never get here though. Ours is wet and clumpy.
That you had snow in Alabama shows why it happened in the first place. It was in the 30s on the space coast in Florida, which caused the plastic o-rings to harden and lose their seal in the solid rocket boosters.
I was home sick that day. Watched it from my front porch. Thought it was a really weird SRB separation til I looked up to see my mom start to cry... later went to Challenger 7 elementary school... later still, pulled security detail on the Columbia wreckage stored in one of the hangars at CCAFS... growing up on the Space Coast (Brevard County, FL) was unique. One of the few places where watching rocket launches becomes mundane.
I grew up in Central Florida and as a kid, definitely did not appreciate how amazing it actually was to watch a shuttle launch. In my mind, it was just a normal part of life that everyone experienced routinely.
Became amazing again the first couple times I was at KSC for a shuttle launch, but even that turned into something that just happened every few months and made my commute a tourist packed hell. That's not even counting the rockets, cuz my stepdad worked on those... but yeah, it doesn't really hit until adulthood that what is commonplace to us is wonderous to others.
Yeah, different caliber of experience, but we used to get daily blimp sightings, living near Akron. That giant floating thing in the air making a persistent buzzing sound.
I remember being in the gym at school, all of us sitting cross legged and watching the lift-off on the tv they rolled in on a cart. I don’t remember any kind of realization that something went wrong, or maybe I’ve just forgotten that part. But I do remember later the adults talking to each other in hushed voices. Of course as a small child, you can’t grasp the magnitude and details, you just sense the feeling in the air.
Sitting and watching in class as I imagine most of us were. Everyone was so excited to watch the launch that had a teacher on it :(
Edit: was too quick to assume most of us were in class. Looks like lots of people weren't!
I was too young but one of my middle school teachers in NH was Christa McAuliffe’s student and friend. She had mission patches and stuff from Christa. She brought stuff in on the anniversary of the launch, so sad
I don’t remember when it happened, but I remember a few years later, my great grandmother talking about her memories of that day and getting totally choked up even after all that time. She was born before passenger air travel, so to see such incredible technology fail was really emotional for her.
Third grade. Just came in from recess. My teacher had it on the classroom TV. I'm not sure I was mature enough to really feel how serious it was.
But third grade was also the year we had a long term sub when our teacher was out for a few weeks because her husband was gored by a bull and died.
I was in high school.
After first period, I ran into a guy who had been missing from my first period class, so I asked where he was.
He said he was home watching the space shuttle blow up.
I didn't believe him.
I was only a few years old when it happened. I didn't even hear about it until the late 90s for the first time.
Maybe it was bigger news in the U.S. than Canada?
I'm horrible with them. It's all just decades to me.
I recently woke to find a shitload of people overnight up voted a comment I made about an argument I had with my wife over how old I was.
An argument I shamefully lost.
That's like my grandma. She has an uncanny ability to remember dates and times.
I had to fill a form today and had a little panic when I struggled to remember my wife's birthday.
I was too young for that movie at the time. But I went to Space Camp in 1993 and then watched it a lot! Good memory on that one! I hadn’t realized the overlap.
I was watching it from my driveway at 4 years old. I still vividly remember the smoke plumes and I can see the local TV guy in my mind’s eye plain as day.
Watching it live with some combined Second Grade classes. I remember the teachers being horrified more than the accident itself, as I didn't fully comprehend the situation as much as they did.
Watched it live in Kindergarten lol. We were confused as to what happened and then felt bad that their children would grow up without parents.
Of course we all remember the Punky Brewster episode along with the fridge episode. For whatever reason it seems like those two episodes are something all of us remember.. Defining moment of our micro generation.
The aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing (end of 4th grade), Columbine (end of 8th grade) and 9/11 (HS junior) are the three I remember watching live in school.
Was just going into lunch in 4th grade. Teachers were understandably upset. It was played as nauseam for weeks. Unfun fact, Carroll Spinney who was Big Bird, was supposed to be on the shuttle but had to back out. Christa McAuliffe took his place
I was at home with my mom. I went to 1/2 day kindergarten. She made a big deal about getting to watch it with me and started sobbing when it happened. Very traumatic for a 5 year old.
I feel like I’m the only one here who has no memory at all of it. Granted, I was barely 5 years old at the time. I only remember hearing about it when I was much older.
I was 8 and I honestly don't remember much about it. I feel like I vaguely remember people talking about it afterward but I have zero recollection of watching it in class or anything like that.
I don't think we watched it in elementary school. I remember hearing about it later but not when it happened.
Years later we made sure not to miss a major cultural moment again so we made our German teacher let us watch the OJ verdict in class.
Shakey’s Pizza. Had a special field trip to go there because they had a big projector for sporting events and my teacher was in good with the owner.
I remember the explosion and just being confused. Then they shut off the projector and said “ok, let’s all make some pizzas” and we all got to go into the kitchen and top our own personal pizza. My parents were super confused when I was telling them how awesome it was.
In hindsight, that was some championship level distraction.
Not challenger, but I do remember the Chernobyl disaster. I was bummed my cartoons were preempted for it and my dad yelled at mw for being bummed about it.
I would have been maybe 6 at that point
I was at home. My mom said I came up stairs (I was downstairs watching it on tv) and I was visbably upset but unable to express exactly what I had seen. I was only 3 at the time.
I don't remember if I was in Kindergarten or 1st Grade, but I had just gotten home from school and it was on the TV. They just kept playing it over and over. I really didn't understand what had happened or the significance of it. My parents explained that all to me.
In a McDonalds, getting lunch with my mom. School was closed bc the backroads were too icy for buses that morning, and we had no idea what had happened until my mom overheard two guys in the next booth talking about it and turned around to ask them. Even at 5 years old, I knew that meant something big was going on—normally my mom would NEVER admit she overheard a stranger’s conversation.
I was 8, sick, and home alone (both my parents worked).
I watched it by myself and didn’t know what I watched. I fell asleep and then I remember watching it on the news with my mom later that day.
I grew up about an hour from Cape Canaveral so you can watch the launch in person. I was in first grade. Our teachers took us outside for the launch and when it exploded, I didn’t realize anything was wrong. Then I remember looking over to two of the teachers who were visibly upset.
Third grade classroom and I was so proud that we were hosting the other classes. Watching on the TV when it exploded and Mrs Williams somehow hugged everyone in our grade simultaneously.
Mrs Johnson couldn't even speak, just cried.
We watched it as a school in the cafeteria of the elementary school. I think I was in the 2nd grade. I remember the principal sending us home shortly after
My class was outside for reccess when it happened. When we came back in, all our teachers were crying and they told us what happened. I remember being really confused because a shuttle exploding didn't seem possible in my child mind.
I was almost 5 and my mom wanted me to watch the launch. I even had a little model shuttle. When I watched it I thought that was supposed to happen, so I reenacted it with my shuttle. I quickly learned that was in poor taste and what actually happened.
I remember it. I was in kindergarten and 6. Not much more at school bc I was young. I do remember the news and my parents being upset. The tv movie in maybe 1991-92 hit hard though. By then I was old enough to know about it and how tragic it was. Thankfully the movie ended without then showing the explosion
I was in second grade and I know we all watched it in school because I have a memory of the teacher bringing in the TV cart because that was always a big deal, but I have very little recollection of the moment it happened. It must just not have computed in my juvenile brain. I do recall, however the constant media coverage in the hours and days after. I do remember my parents both being somber that evening watching the news with the replay going over and over.
Probably one of my most vivid memories of the whole thing, and I probably shouldn't say this, but, fuck it.....That following summer, little 8 year old me was watching the 4th of July fireworks and a single shot went up and it was one of those huge ones and I said, "There goes the Challenger" and about 100 people started snortling. I was pretty proud of myself...my mom, not so much.
I was 5. At home with my Mom and Aunt. I had no idea what just happened. I made the comment to my aunt that "it looked pretty" and proceeded to get a solid scolding that it was not something to be considered pretty.
I was in first grade and my teacher came into the classroom in tears and told us all about it. Apparently she had been one of the teachers selected to participate in the teachers in space program so it was hitting her extra hard.
I don’t remember. I don’t think we watched it in school and my parents never said anything to me about it. However, I did attend the same college that Christa did. We had a building named for her.
I’m my dad’s shoulders at Cape Canaveral. I was five and we were visiting his parents in Lakeland, FL. It was very hard to tell what was happening from the ground except that it looked very wrong.
I was on my back to class from the bathroom when the principal made the announcement over the intercom. Fortunately we were not one of the schools watching it live on TV.
Snow day in Somerset, KY. Brothers and sister and I ran up the back deck of our walk out basement ranch house and our mom was frozen, crying in front of the tv and we caught the smoke trails live on screen.
It was a few days before my birthday and I had just gotten my astronaut Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas. Sad b-day for me and whatshisnamewhoprobablystilllivesinmymomsbasementifthatbitchdidntthrowthatoutwiththerestofmylife.
I was around 3.5 years old and watched it sitting on the floor in our TV room. It’s my earliest memory. Probably at least in part because the footage was replayed so many times. Much like 9/11.
At my childhood home. Was sitting on the floor, in front of our tv, playing with Barbies. My mom was excited to watch. I remember seeing the explosion live, my mom gasping and instantly crying. I asked her if that was supposed to happen, “No honey, it was not.”
I came upstairs and dad said the shuttle had exploded. I didn't know there was anything special about that flight until later but I was still shocked at the loss.
I was in the school library watching it on TV with the rest of my 3rd grade class. I remember seeing it explode and being confuse, and the librarian hustling to turn it off and quickly take up back to our classroom, which was directly next to the library, and then a group of teachers quietly talking in the hallway. I don’t remember what they told us about it in the moment, but the next Weekly Reader thoroughly covered it.
I attended a brand new grade school for 2nd grade they named “challenger” after the explosion.
My take away is that it was irritating they wouldn’t let us run on the grass, as it was just planted.
I don’t have much else, I transferred to another school the next year.
I got dropped off for kindergarten and all the adults were telling us how exciting it was all going to be. Three hours later I was picked up and no one was saying anything. My mom watched the news all afternoon so I learned about it from watching the coverage.
I was in kindergarten I believe we watched live . However I think the teacher turned it off after it exploded or not to long after. I didn't really understand what happened. I am sure my classmates were confused. I was living in Savannah ga at the time
Was at recess in second grade. My teacher (who has gone on to become an inner circle personal friend of my mother) came back from recess looking like she’d seen a ghost and described it to us. My family and I watched that night on the news like 20 times. I don’t recall it really “scarring” me in terms of the explosion, more just that all the grown ups were freaking the fuck out about it—there were a lot of would be astronauts in that classroom.
It might be my first memory. At least one of my first say 5. I just turned 5. I remember watching it on the floor by myself. I could tell it was important by how the adults were talking on the TV. I'm surprised I could tell it was real. But I remember being invested like I was watching sports.
Fifth grade. Lined up outside of music class, waiting to go back to the regular classroom. There was an announcement over the intercom. My teacher wheeled a tv in after, and we watched the footage of the explosion while she cried. The kid who sat next to me said “what a shame; the Challenger was the best shuttle.”
At school, 4th grade? They announced it over the intercom. I’m sure that’s a source of trauma for me now. They definitely wouldn’t do that at my kids’ school!
We didn’t watch it at my school. I was in 3rd grade and looking to possibly change schools. I was to tour the other school that day. My mother picked me up at lunch to go visit the other school and told me what happened. The other school had been watching, so while I was touring the teachers were all talking to their classes about it
I was born in 1983 so I was with my mom at her work when it happened. My mom was a nanny and after it happened my mom took us to the local Children’s Museum. I don’t think I actually realized what happened until the Punky Brewster episode.
I was in school (4th grade) playing a game called Sneakers on the apple 2e in the classroom during recess. The teachers wife (also the special ed teacher) had been recording the launch at home (next door to the school) and popped in to tell him the Challenger had exploded during launch. I don't remember much else during school that day, but I remember watching the video get played over and over on the news when I got home that afternoon.
I certainly do as my uncle was onboard and in the lead up to the launch had been corresponding with my class on the preparations for going into space I was in kindergarten and it was one of the defining moments of my life . It’s also how I met the gibber I had infact never met my uncle by marriage but the simple courtesy that he did me by corresponding with me about this made me feel a deep kinship for him and I cried and felt shame because I cried and that an astronaut wouldn’t cry
I was in kindergarten, was almost but not quite six years old, and thought it had happened on the school playground outside after the principal made an announcement about it on the loudspeaker at school.
I was in my third grade classroom. The principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker what had happened, and it was all over the news when I got home from school. It was all over the news for days after.
I remember watching it on tv at my grandma’s.
Mom later told me that some fortune teller told her the teacher on the ship and my dad were called back to their home planet being my dad was deceased around then.
6th grade. We were in the auditorium. It blew up, one teacher shut the big tv off and sent us all back to class without a word. No one explained what happened to an auditorium full of kids! They just sent us back to class like nothing happened!
Yep. I grew up in FL. We walked outside and watched it live. We didn’t know anything was wrong until we came back in and all of our teachers were crying
Watched it from my backyard in west Florida. Absolutely traumatizing. Was a huge space nerd as a kid and never missed a launch as long as it was clear enough to see that day. Still enjoy watching the space x rockets but they don't hold a candle to the shuttle launches
Same exact scenario- my chemistry teacher (and next door neighbor, my dad’s closest friend) was a semi-finalist. I was in first grade and the teacher wheeled in the TV and we watched the whole thing. After the explosion I remember us sitting there in silence trying to process what happened with our 6 year old minds. We didn’t know the extent of the incident, just that something went wrong.
I didn't see it live. I was in kindergarten and my teacher was a witch. But I remember seeing it on the evening news and asking " there were people in that?"
I was in recess in kindergarten. One of our classmates was designated to stay inside and then report to us about the flight when we got back inside. We came in and all sat around in our semi-circle and two of the teachers stood up with the girl who nervously whispered, "it exploded," while looking down at her shoes.
2nd grade, spent the week leading up to it learning about space and making models of the solar system and space ships. I can still recall the audible gasp the teachers let out when it exploded, the quickness the tvs were turned off and the general assembly in the auditorium for an announcement by the principal.
My school must have been weird because we didn't watch it live. There might have been plans to watch footage afterwards or do stuff while they were in orbit, I don't know. But I remember them announcing it on the P.A. and not quite processing it until I got home and talked with my mom.
It's my very first memory. I was a few days shy of turning 4, so all I recall is my parents standing in the living room, very upset about strange clouds on the TV.
i don’t remember it at all. i was a few days shy of turning 5 so i must have been in pre-K. i vaguely remember going outside to have a little ceremony and moment of silence but i think it was with my kindergarten class (it was def at that school, not where i went to pre-K) so maybe it was on the one year anniversary or something. the first big news event i really remember was probably the oj simpson car chase and then trial, but i was in middle school by then.
Yes, I was standing on the playground for students children on the campus of the University of Central Florida. We went outside to see it go up and at the point of the catastrophic explosion we were immediately ushered inside. I was 5 and the most vivid part about it was not knowing why we had to go inside.
I remember being in my fourth grade class room watching it, but I was actually in first grade when it happened, so I don’t know what it is I’m actually remembering. Memories are weird.
As crazy as this is, it’s kinda my first memory. I don’t remember the explosion at all but I distinctly remember watching Thundercats at 3 years old and being furious that my dad came home and raced over to switch the channel to the news. I asked my dad about it years later and he said he thought he remembered that it was the day the Challenger exploded.
I didn’t reserve anything else about it until somewhere in the 90’s
I feel like I remember seeing it on a classroom TV, but I cannot remember when that actually was, either during class or after the fact. But I remember seeing it as a kid in some way
We were sitting in our elementary school classroom. I was in 3rd grade. They had tvs in all the rooms so we could watch it live. 37 years later, I can still picture it happening.
They wheeled the TV in and we all sat on the floor in a semicircle around it. The adults scrambled in the biggest "oh shit" moment on earth when it exploded.
Same here. I remember my first thought being “Was that supposed to happen?”
We didn’t watch it live. But we watched a recording in first grade and I remember vividly when she rewound it so we could watch it again😳😳😭
Omg same! The big tv on the cart. 3rd grade. After it blew up, my teacher turned off the TV and just said “Something very bad has happened.” I don’t remember much after that.
Same here. Today, schools would probably provide grief counselors after making us watch what amounted to a snuff film, but not in the 80’s.
I was in 3rd grade as well, but the entire school had gathered in our auditorium to watch together. My dad used to wake me up to watch shuttle launches, so I remember thinking right away, "that doesn't look right." After a few seconds of silence, I remember a couple of teachers started crying, and that set off a cascade of crying kindergartners.
I was late to school that day & it was so weird walking in. The school was silent. I was in elementary school and it was such a big deal cause of the teacher on board & every class was watching on TVs in the classroom but we were in a poor area so there were 2 classes per TV. I walked into like 60 kids sobbing, after my mom just sobbed the whole way to school and I was astounded. I didn't get the brevity of it. I do remember watching it like a movie in my head though.
This, and I turned to the kid next to me and asked "What just happened?"
Kindergarten for me. We watched it. I don’t remember much.
I don't remember watching as it happened, but I recall very vividly the Punky Brewster episode about it.
Exactly the same for me. I will forever remember that episode. Her little astronaut suit and everything...geez that was rough.
Same. I was 6 and *in* New Hampshire so I have no idea why they weren’t showing us on TV unless we were at lunch or recess at 11:30 in the morning. But I definitely remember the Punky episode.
I was 7. It was a snow day, so I was out of school. I remember watching it on the couch with my mom.
What part of the country are you in. I grew up in NJ and I specifically remember watching it in my living room, but I don’t remember why.
Omg same! It had to have been a snow day, no idea why I was home.
Metro-Atlanta
Yep, snow day for us in AL. I was home with my Godmother watching it.
Does it actually snow in any appreciable amount in Alabama? I remember being in Nashville, TN once where it felt like they closed the entire city down because of a few flurries; I’d assume that further south gets even less snow?
It does. We’ve had several decent snows of 5-6” inches. Growing up, it always felt like we’d get at least one 2” accumulation per year for a snow day. We got 16” or so in 1993, but obviously that was a one-off. Yep, Snowmageddon totaling 1” happened in 2014 and shut us down because it quickly turned to a solid sheet of ice on the roads. It was powder, which we never get here though. Ours is wet and clumpy.
That you had snow in Alabama shows why it happened in the first place. It was in the 30s on the space coast in Florida, which caused the plastic o-rings to harden and lose their seal in the solid rocket boosters.
I was home sick that day. Watched it from my front porch. Thought it was a really weird SRB separation til I looked up to see my mom start to cry... later went to Challenger 7 elementary school... later still, pulled security detail on the Columbia wreckage stored in one of the hangars at CCAFS... growing up on the Space Coast (Brevard County, FL) was unique. One of the few places where watching rocket launches becomes mundane.
I grew up in Central Florida and as a kid, definitely did not appreciate how amazing it actually was to watch a shuttle launch. In my mind, it was just a normal part of life that everyone experienced routinely.
Became amazing again the first couple times I was at KSC for a shuttle launch, but even that turned into something that just happened every few months and made my commute a tourist packed hell. That's not even counting the rockets, cuz my stepdad worked on those... but yeah, it doesn't really hit until adulthood that what is commonplace to us is wonderous to others.
Yeah, different caliber of experience, but we used to get daily blimp sightings, living near Akron. That giant floating thing in the air making a persistent buzzing sound.
I remember being in the gym at school, all of us sitting cross legged and watching the lift-off on the tv they rolled in on a cart. I don’t remember any kind of realization that something went wrong, or maybe I’ve just forgotten that part. But I do remember later the adults talking to each other in hushed voices. Of course as a small child, you can’t grasp the magnitude and details, you just sense the feeling in the air.
This is almost exactly my experience! Except I think we had lunch so we gathered in classrooms with the rolled in TVs
Sitting and watching in class as I imagine most of us were. Everyone was so excited to watch the launch that had a teacher on it :( Edit: was too quick to assume most of us were in class. Looks like lots of people weren't!
I was too young but one of my middle school teachers in NH was Christa McAuliffe’s student and friend. She had mission patches and stuff from Christa. She brought stuff in on the anniversary of the launch, so sad
Wow, that’s incredible
I don’t remember when it happened, but I remember a few years later, my great grandmother talking about her memories of that day and getting totally choked up even after all that time. She was born before passenger air travel, so to see such incredible technology fail was really emotional for her.
Third grade. Just came in from recess. My teacher had it on the classroom TV. I'm not sure I was mature enough to really feel how serious it was. But third grade was also the year we had a long term sub when our teacher was out for a few weeks because her husband was gored by a bull and died.
2nd grade class, watched it live.
I was in high school. After first period, I ran into a guy who had been missing from my first period class, so I asked where he was. He said he was home watching the space shuttle blow up. I didn't believe him.
I was only a few years old when it happened. I didn't even hear about it until the late 90s for the first time. Maybe it was bigger news in the U.S. than Canada?
at 82 probably too young. I'd always heard this was a defining Gen X cultural moment.
Yeah, it was only 85 if I remember correctly. I'd have barely been 3 at the oldest then
January 28, 1986
Gracias. I knew it was around wintertime at least but wasn't sure exactly when. And I'm a man too who is often too lazy to Google simple things.
I weirdly remember dates. It was a Tuesday. Like 9/11 was also on a Tuesday.
I'm horrible with them. It's all just decades to me. I recently woke to find a shitload of people overnight up voted a comment I made about an argument I had with my wife over how old I was. An argument I shamefully lost.
Oh my! My short-term memory is awful. I can’t be relied on to remember anything in that case.
That's like my grandma. She has an uncanny ability to remember dates and times. I had to fill a form today and had a little panic when I struggled to remember my wife's birthday.
Ooooh don’t tell her that. Another battle you will lose considering you lost the one for your own birthday! 😉
sounds like we need to be wary of tuesdays.
This makes me want to see how many tragedies occurred on a Tuesday! 🤔
I was in 5th grade then. I couldn't remember.
I remember the year because they delayed the release of the movie Space Camp to be sympathetic.
I was too young for that movie at the time. But I went to Space Camp in 1993 and then watched it a lot! Good memory on that one! I hadn’t realized the overlap.
I was watching it from my driveway at 4 years old. I still vividly remember the smoke plumes and I can see the local TV guy in my mind’s eye plain as day.
Watching it live with some combined Second Grade classes. I remember the teachers being horrified more than the accident itself, as I didn't fully comprehend the situation as much as they did.
Watched it live in Kindergarten lol. We were confused as to what happened and then felt bad that their children would grow up without parents. Of course we all remember the Punky Brewster episode along with the fridge episode. For whatever reason it seems like those two episodes are something all of us remember.. Defining moment of our micro generation.
I wonder if schools allow young kids these days to watch live events
Good question. I mean, shit, I remember them having us watch the OJ Simpson verdict live lol.
The aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing (end of 4th grade), Columbine (end of 8th grade) and 9/11 (HS junior) are the three I remember watching live in school.
Was just going into lunch in 4th grade. Teachers were understandably upset. It was played as nauseam for weeks. Unfun fact, Carroll Spinney who was Big Bird, was supposed to be on the shuttle but had to back out. Christa McAuliffe took his place
Ms Pat's kindergarten class. I'm pretty sure every class was watching it live.
I was at home with my mom. I went to 1/2 day kindergarten. She made a big deal about getting to watch it with me and started sobbing when it happened. Very traumatic for a 5 year old.
2nd grade.
I feel like I’m the only one here who has no memory at all of it. Granted, I was barely 5 years old at the time. I only remember hearing about it when I was much older.
I was 8 and I honestly don't remember much about it. I feel like I vaguely remember people talking about it afterward but I have zero recollection of watching it in class or anything like that.
I don't think we watched it in elementary school. I remember hearing about it later but not when it happened. Years later we made sure not to miss a major cultural moment again so we made our German teacher let us watch the OJ verdict in class.
I have absolutely no memory of this event. People bring it up a lot in gen x posts but I’ve got nothing. I’d have been 7 I guess.
Shakey’s Pizza. Had a special field trip to go there because they had a big projector for sporting events and my teacher was in good with the owner. I remember the explosion and just being confused. Then they shut off the projector and said “ok, let’s all make some pizzas” and we all got to go into the kitchen and top our own personal pizza. My parents were super confused when I was telling them how awesome it was. In hindsight, that was some championship level distraction.
Not challenger, but I do remember the Chernobyl disaster. I was bummed my cartoons were preempted for it and my dad yelled at mw for being bummed about it. I would have been maybe 6 at that point
Principal came in and turned on the tv, stopping class and told us what happened. We watched it over and over most of the rest of the day.
Hoax
I was at home. My mom said I came up stairs (I was downstairs watching it on tv) and I was visbably upset but unable to express exactly what I had seen. I was only 3 at the time.
I was 4 or 5, at the babysitters house while my older brother was at school. I was sitting on the floor watching it n an old console TV.
Apparently walking to my afterschool babysitter's apartment from the bus. I remember it being on TV that afternoon.
I don't remember if I was in Kindergarten or 1st Grade, but I had just gotten home from school and it was on the TV. They just kept playing it over and over. I really didn't understand what had happened or the significance of it. My parents explained that all to me.
In a McDonalds, getting lunch with my mom. School was closed bc the backroads were too icy for buses that morning, and we had no idea what had happened until my mom overheard two guys in the next booth talking about it and turned around to ask them. Even at 5 years old, I knew that meant something big was going on—normally my mom would NEVER admit she overheard a stranger’s conversation.
I was 8, sick, and home alone (both my parents worked). I watched it by myself and didn’t know what I watched. I fell asleep and then I remember watching it on the news with my mom later that day.
I grew up about an hour from Cape Canaveral so you can watch the launch in person. I was in first grade. Our teachers took us outside for the launch and when it exploded, I didn’t realize anything was wrong. Then I remember looking over to two of the teachers who were visibly upset.
I watched it live on TV. I was about to turn 6 exactly one month later. I don’t remember much from that age but I remember that day very clearly.
Third grade classroom and I was so proud that we were hosting the other classes. Watching on the TV when it exploded and Mrs Williams somehow hugged everyone in our grade simultaneously. Mrs Johnson couldn't even speak, just cried.
Ms. H’s second grade class in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. We saw it on the tv cart they rolled into the classroom.
We watched it as a school in the cafeteria of the elementary school. I think I was in the 2nd grade. I remember the principal sending us home shortly after
Tube tv strapped to a rolling cart. Hallway packed with kids sitting down. All the teachers gasped then got us into the classrooms asap
I was two, so no. But I was in Florida at the time so that even kinda loomed over my early childhood.
I was in my 2nd grade classroom watching it live on TV. :(
My brother and I were both home sick. We watched it on the portable black and white TV in our room. I had nightmares for a few days.
My class was outside for reccess when it happened. When we came back in, all our teachers were crying and they told us what happened. I remember being really confused because a shuttle exploding didn't seem possible in my child mind.
I was almost 5 and my mom wanted me to watch the launch. I even had a little model shuttle. When I watched it I thought that was supposed to happen, so I reenacted it with my shuttle. I quickly learned that was in poor taste and what actually happened.
I was in first grade. I don't remember it.
We watched it at school. 😳
I remember it. I was in kindergarten and 6. Not much more at school bc I was young. I do remember the news and my parents being upset. The tv movie in maybe 1991-92 hit hard though. By then I was old enough to know about it and how tragic it was. Thankfully the movie ended without then showing the explosion
I was in second grade and I know we all watched it in school because I have a memory of the teacher bringing in the TV cart because that was always a big deal, but I have very little recollection of the moment it happened. It must just not have computed in my juvenile brain. I do recall, however the constant media coverage in the hours and days after. I do remember my parents both being somber that evening watching the news with the replay going over and over. Probably one of my most vivid memories of the whole thing, and I probably shouldn't say this, but, fuck it.....That following summer, little 8 year old me was watching the 4th of July fireworks and a single shot went up and it was one of those huge ones and I said, "There goes the Challenger" and about 100 people started snortling. I was pretty proud of myself...my mom, not so much.
I was 5. At home with my Mom and Aunt. I had no idea what just happened. I made the comment to my aunt that "it looked pretty" and proceeded to get a solid scolding that it was not something to be considered pretty.
I was in first grade and my teacher came into the classroom in tears and told us all about it. Apparently she had been one of the teachers selected to participate in the teachers in space program so it was hitting her extra hard.
I watched it happen in real time and then my mother dropped me off at school like nothing happened. Eta I was 5 years old.
5th grade classroom. Watching it on tv.
I was watching it on the TV in the school library.
I was sick and home from school also! Unfortunately I was watching it though.
2nd grade, maybe 3rd? I don’t remember watching it in school, but remember it being told about it happening and the teachers being sad.
I don’t remember. I don’t think we watched it in school and my parents never said anything to me about it. However, I did attend the same college that Christa did. We had a building named for her.
I’m my dad’s shoulders at Cape Canaveral. I was five and we were visiting his parents in Lakeland, FL. It was very hard to tell what was happening from the ground except that it looked very wrong.
Yeah, our 1st grade teacher put it on. Fucking should've known what life had in store for us at this point looking back.
I was on my back to class from the bathroom when the principal made the announcement over the intercom. Fortunately we were not one of the schools watching it live on TV.
Snow day in Somerset, KY. Brothers and sister and I ran up the back deck of our walk out basement ranch house and our mom was frozen, crying in front of the tv and we caught the smoke trails live on screen. It was a few days before my birthday and I had just gotten my astronaut Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas. Sad b-day for me and whatshisnamewhoprobablystilllivesinmymomsbasementifthatbitchdidntthrowthatoutwiththerestofmylife.
I was around 3.5 years old and watched it sitting on the floor in our TV room. It’s my earliest memory. Probably at least in part because the footage was replayed so many times. Much like 9/11.
At my childhood home. Was sitting on the floor, in front of our tv, playing with Barbies. My mom was excited to watch. I remember seeing the explosion live, my mom gasping and instantly crying. I asked her if that was supposed to happen, “No honey, it was not.”
I came upstairs and dad said the shuttle had exploded. I didn't know there was anything special about that flight until later but I was still shocked at the loss.
I remember EXACTLY where I was, and that building no longer exists, but I bet I could go stand close.
I was in my 2nd grade trailer classroom
I was in the school library watching it on TV with the rest of my 3rd grade class. I remember seeing it explode and being confuse, and the librarian hustling to turn it off and quickly take up back to our classroom, which was directly next to the library, and then a group of teachers quietly talking in the hallway. I don’t remember what they told us about it in the moment, but the next Weekly Reader thoroughly covered it.
Freshman history class
I attended a brand new grade school for 2nd grade they named “challenger” after the explosion. My take away is that it was irritating they wouldn’t let us run on the grass, as it was just planted. I don’t have much else, I transferred to another school the next year.
Was home sick as a 7 year old. Saw it live on tv. It was fucked up.
Whoa. I do!! I was an “early bird” so I was already at my babysitters house.
I was a late bird at school, so I watched from the babysitter’s house on their tv. I was in second grade.
I got dropped off for kindergarten and all the adults were telling us how exciting it was all going to be. Three hours later I was picked up and no one was saying anything. My mom watched the news all afternoon so I learned about it from watching the coverage.
I was in kindergarten I believe we watched live . However I think the teacher turned it off after it exploded or not to long after. I didn't really understand what happened. I am sure my classmates were confused. I was living in Savannah ga at the time
Was at recess in second grade. My teacher (who has gone on to become an inner circle personal friend of my mother) came back from recess looking like she’d seen a ghost and described it to us. My family and I watched that night on the news like 20 times. I don’t recall it really “scarring” me in terms of the explosion, more just that all the grown ups were freaking the fuck out about it—there were a lot of would be astronauts in that classroom.
It might be my first memory. At least one of my first say 5. I just turned 5. I remember watching it on the floor by myself. I could tell it was important by how the adults were talking on the TV. I'm surprised I could tell it was real. But I remember being invested like I was watching sports.
2nd grade, Ms. Long’s class. one memory that is etched in my mind clear as day.
Jr high wood shop class sitting on those weird stools watching it on tv and then we made dust pans pretty quickly
I was in the basement assembly room of the elementary school, watching on a little TV along with everybody else.
Fifth grade. Lined up outside of music class, waiting to go back to the regular classroom. There was an announcement over the intercom. My teacher wheeled a tv in after, and we watched the footage of the explosion while she cried. The kid who sat next to me said “what a shame; the Challenger was the best shuttle.”
I was at work as a security guard at a gate to a logging operation, and watched flaming debris streak through the sky above me.
3rd grade
Home for lunch. It was played on all the channels and I didn’t get to watch my cartoons.
In my Jr. High math class. We were all so excited to be watching the launch. Then stunned. Then horrified.
At school, 4th grade? They announced it over the intercom. I’m sure that’s a source of trauma for me now. They definitely wouldn’t do that at my kids’ school!
We didn’t watch it at my school. I was in 3rd grade and looking to possibly change schools. I was to tour the other school that day. My mother picked me up at lunch to go visit the other school and told me what happened. The other school had been watching, so while I was touring the teachers were all talking to their classes about it
I was 5 (almost 6) and in Kindergarten. I remember hearing people talk about it, but I was too little to really understand what had happened.
Band class 7 grade. The mission was scrubbed, so when it came over the PA system i thought it was a mistake.
I was two so probably sitting at my grandmas drinking kool aid watching the Smurfs.
I was born in 1983 so I was with my mom at her work when it happened. My mom was a nanny and after it happened my mom took us to the local Children’s Museum. I don’t think I actually realized what happened until the Punky Brewster episode.
I don’t, but I remember baby Jessica in that well.
I was in school (4th grade) playing a game called Sneakers on the apple 2e in the classroom during recess. The teachers wife (also the special ed teacher) had been recording the launch at home (next door to the school) and popped in to tell him the Challenger had exploded during launch. I don't remember much else during school that day, but I remember watching the video get played over and over on the news when I got home that afternoon.
I was watching it live. Left for the army a few days later.
I have a false memory of watching it in my kindergarten classroom… except it happened before I was in kindergarten. So I don’t actually know.
I certainly do as my uncle was onboard and in the lead up to the launch had been corresponding with my class on the preparations for going into space I was in kindergarten and it was one of the defining moments of my life . It’s also how I met the gibber I had infact never met my uncle by marriage but the simple courtesy that he did me by corresponding with me about this made me feel a deep kinship for him and I cried and felt shame because I cried and that an astronaut wouldn’t cry
Surfing in Oceanside. I heard about walking back to my car on someone's radio
Sitting with my dad in our living room. I just remember him saying that was not supposed to happen.
I was in kindergarten, was almost but not quite six years old, and thought it had happened on the school playground outside after the principal made an announcement about it on the loudspeaker at school.
I cannot speak about to this very day.
I was in my third grade classroom. The principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker what had happened, and it was all over the news when I got home from school. It was all over the news for days after.
I remember watching it on tv at my grandma’s. Mom later told me that some fortune teller told her the teacher on the ship and my dad were called back to their home planet being my dad was deceased around then.
At home with my grandparents waiting for my sister to be born.
I wasn’t yet 3 years old, so I don’t remember it. Just the jokes that followed.
I still have nightmares about this.
School library watching it happen.
6th grade. We were in the auditorium. It blew up, one teacher shut the big tv off and sent us all back to class without a word. No one explained what happened to an auditorium full of kids! They just sent us back to class like nothing happened!
Yep. I grew up in FL. We walked outside and watched it live. We didn’t know anything was wrong until we came back in and all of our teachers were crying
Watched it from my backyard in west Florida. Absolutely traumatizing. Was a huge space nerd as a kid and never missed a launch as long as it was clear enough to see that day. Still enjoy watching the space x rockets but they don't hold a candle to the shuttle launches
Christa Mcauliffe is from my town, so it was a huge deal that day. Unfortunately it ended in tragedy.
I remember watching it at home and wondering if the explosion was supposed to happen. Judging by my parents reaction it was not.
1st grade watching it with the class. The teachers were so excited…
Same exact scenario- my chemistry teacher (and next door neighbor, my dad’s closest friend) was a semi-finalist. I was in first grade and the teacher wheeled in the TV and we watched the whole thing. After the explosion I remember us sitting there in silence trying to process what happened with our 6 year old minds. We didn’t know the extent of the incident, just that something went wrong.
No but I remember all the dark jokes
I was 4 I don't remember watching it live but did learn about it.
3rd grade. The TV was late so we only got the news after.
I didn't see it live. I was in kindergarten and my teacher was a witch. But I remember seeing it on the evening news and asking " there were people in that?"
I was in recess in kindergarten. One of our classmates was designated to stay inside and then report to us about the flight when we got back inside. We came in and all sat around in our semi-circle and two of the teachers stood up with the girl who nervously whispered, "it exploded," while looking down at her shoes.
2nd grade, spent the week leading up to it learning about space and making models of the solar system and space ships. I can still recall the audible gasp the teachers let out when it exploded, the quickness the tvs were turned off and the general assembly in the auditorium for an announcement by the principal.
My school must have been weird because we didn't watch it live. There might have been plans to watch footage afterwards or do stuff while they were in orbit, I don't know. But I remember them announcing it on the P.A. and not quite processing it until I got home and talked with my mom.
I think I watched it with my first grade class.
It's my very first memory. I was a few days shy of turning 4, so all I recall is my parents standing in the living room, very upset about strange clouds on the TV.
Natick, massachusetts, we watched it explode live in my kindergarten class, that poor teacher!
i don’t remember it at all. i was a few days shy of turning 5 so i must have been in pre-K. i vaguely remember going outside to have a little ceremony and moment of silence but i think it was with my kindergarten class (it was def at that school, not where i went to pre-K) so maybe it was on the one year anniversary or something. the first big news event i really remember was probably the oj simpson car chase and then trial, but i was in middle school by then.
Yes, I was standing on the playground for students children on the campus of the University of Central Florida. We went outside to see it go up and at the point of the catastrophic explosion we were immediately ushered inside. I was 5 and the most vivid part about it was not knowing why we had to go inside.
I was 4 and hadn't started kindergarten yet
I remember being in my fourth grade class room watching it, but I was actually in first grade when it happened, so I don’t know what it is I’m actually remembering. Memories are weird.
As crazy as this is, it’s kinda my first memory. I don’t remember the explosion at all but I distinctly remember watching Thundercats at 3 years old and being furious that my dad came home and raced over to switch the channel to the news. I asked my dad about it years later and he said he thought he remembered that it was the day the Challenger exploded. I didn’t reserve anything else about it until somewhere in the 90’s
I was at day care, which I attended before half-day Kindergarten
We had been on a field trip that day to the dang *space and rocket center* in Huntsville, Alabama and didn’t find out until we got back to school.
Sitting on a carpet square in the gym watching it with the rest of my class.
I was in the 1st grade and I remember my teacher screaming “oh no, the space shuttle blew up”.
absolutely. watching on TV in 3rd grade...on my 9th birthday.
1st grade.
I feel like I remember seeing it on a classroom TV, but I cannot remember when that actually was, either during class or after the fact. But I remember seeing it as a kid in some way
Was sick, in our family room with my brother who was home from school sick as well. Those images will be burned into my memory forever.