i wasn't born back then, but i remember watching a punky brewster episode rerun when i was a kid that was about it. probably the first time i heard about the challenger disaster.
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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I was only 4 years and 4 months old, I can barely remember anything of that time.
But when Columbia was en route to enter the atmosphere, I was outside on the front lawn watching, since it was re-entering over my area of Texas at a pretty favorable viewing angle.
I was so fucking happy to see such a momentous occasion...until it started breaking up. I knew something was wrong, but my brain couldn't piece it together, until the ship started breaking apart into visibly distinct fireballs. It passed over the horizon, and I was stunned. I ran back into my friend's living room, and continued watching the coverage, now very sombre.
It was 17 years and 4 days after Challenger. I was 21. That shit is burned into my memory. Especially since 9/11 was less than 18 months prior, which I also watched live.
Could have been worse. They wanted to send Big Bird.
Also, I wasn’t in kindergarten yet or I’d have seen it. I think this is a core Gen X memory that Millennials don’t have.
Yeah millenial's earliest memory of tragedy is said to be 9/11. Can confirm as a baby millenial who was 7 at the time.
Hey we also got a shuttle explosion, it was just sandwiched between gestures loosely at the past 30 years
There's speculation that Reagan was the impetus behind the "go fever" that caused the Challenger disaster. The idea is that he wanted to have a live uplink to Challenger during his State of the Union, and that his desire to use them as props was why NASA was in such an all-fired hurry to launch no matter the consequences.
No idea how grounded in reality the speculation is, but it tracks for Reagan.
I watched it in person, sort of.
I was living on the Florida Gulf Coast at the time. From the Gulf Coast, a shuttle launch was just a bright bead drawing a thin line up from the horizon, so it wasn't any sort of spectacle, but it was something interesting to watch if you happened to be outside, which I was.
And it was obvious even from there what had likely happened, since the bright bead suddenly flashed, then went out, and the line went off sideways.
My entire school was gathered in the cafeteria for the event, televised live.
We were all sent home for the day (some took the week) in the ensuing chaos.
If big bird had been in there, you think they would have killed off the character?
I mean, it would be pretty undeniable. When Henson died, he died in a hospital room, not while performing Kermit or Rowlf or any of his beloved characters.
If Caroll Spinney had been on Challenger, in character as Big Bird, on live TV, in front of a nation of schoolchildren, it would be crass to pretend it had never happened.