User Panel
Posted: 3/9/2012 3:15:57 PM EDT
"Challenger, go at throttle up." "Roger, go at throttle up."
To me, these are the most haunting words I can remember hearing in my lifetime. Every time I've heard them since, I know that just seconds after they were said, a National tragedy happens. America needs the men and women that face the risks of space exploration. America needs our children to dream of being Astronauts again. |
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Spacex is moving forward.
"SpaceX is planning its first crewed Dragon/Falcon9 flight in 2015, when it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape system incorporated into the spacecraft". |
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I cringed every time a shuttle launch hit that phase of liftoff.
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I remember the day it happened, was in college at UCF in Orlando.
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When I was growing up I was told I could be anything I put my mind to.
Now we have to tell our children... anything but an astronaut |
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I saw a couple shuttle launches.....incredible.
But I remember that day like it was yesterday |
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Yeah, Max Q is pretty much the most dangerous time of the launch. I think I was in 5th grade when that happened.
Godspeed, explorers. |
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Quoted:
"Challenger, go at throttle up." "Roger, go at throttle up." To me, these are the most haunting words I can remember hearing in my lifetime. Every time I've heard them since, I know that just seconds after they were said, a National tragedy happens. America needs the men and women that face the risks of space exploration. America needs our children to dream of being Astronauts again. We are not short of men and women willing to take the risks. We are short money and long on lawyers. I'd rather not have hour children dream of becoming government employees and going into space on an obsolete platform where 50% of them exploded by the time they had 25 sorties. We need men and women who go into space risking their own lives and forturnes. We need to make taking risks fashionable again, and not have to worry about getting sued, prosecuted, or having to submit mountains of paperwork because some insect may be harmed by your endeavour.. |
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I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did.
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I remember the day it happened, was in college at UCF in Orlando. I was in 3rd grade and they put TV's in the cafeteria and the whole school went in there and watched the news coverage for the rest of the day. |
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Quoted: I remember the day it happened, was in college at UCF in Orlando. I remember it like it was last week. I was in 3rd grade watching it on one of those roll-in television carts. The entire classroom fell silent and all you could hear was our teacher crying. |
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When I was growing up I was told I could be anything I put my mind to. Now we have to tell our children... anything but an astronaut Bunch of bullshit whining. Anything but a TAX FUNDED astronaut, plenty of private dollars out there. |
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I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did. I did too. I remember yelling to my mother that the shuttle just blew up. Ill never forget that day. |
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I'd really like to see people going into space and making it a profitable venture; That way there'd be a real opportunity for a lot of people to visit and work in space, not just a handful of explorers.
Maybe I've read too many sci-fi novels.. |
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"Challenger, go at throttle up." "Roger, go at throttle up." To me, these are the most haunting words I can remember hearing in my lifetime. Every time I've heard them since, I know that just seconds after they were said, a National tragedy happens. America needs the men and women that face the risks of space exploration. America needs our children to dream of being Astronauts again. Reward may be greater than risk, or not. Life is like going to Vegas every day. We weigh the odds and calculate whether we will take the risk. Today, it seems we are all pussies. |
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Yeah, Max Q is pretty much the most dangerous time of the launch. I think I was in 5th grade when that happened. Godspeed, explorers. They were beyond Max Q at the time. ARFCOMers just love to throw out scientific jargon they don't really know |
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When I was growing up I was told I could be anything I put my mind to. Now we have to tell our children... anything but an astronaut Why? |
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first grade
every classroom had a tv turned on to it since a teacher was going into space the news kept showing the replay over and over and over |
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I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did. Funny thing is that I did the same thing...faked being sick so I could watch the launch. |
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Yeah, Max Q is pretty much the most dangerous time of the launch. I think I was in 5th grade when that happened. Godspeed, explorers. They were beyond Max Q at the time. ARFCOMers just love to throw out scientific jargon they don't really know Boosters were still at full thrust. Are you sure it was not max Q? Q = rho V**2 / 2gc. rho is going down, V is going up. Where is max Q? |
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Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky, Be with them always in the air, In dark'ning storms or sunlight fair. O, Hear us when we lift our prayer, For those in peril in the air. Oddly enough I was on a Field Trip to a NASA contractor who made rocket engines. The Head Engineer's business card actually said "Yes, I am a Rocket Scientist" I first saw it in his conference room. It was eiry, a quiet factory, full of silent people, most staring blankly at the direct NASA feed. A memerable field trip. |
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When I visted Kennedy Space Center got to see the launching pad where Challenger took off from. They were talking it down
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Quoted: Odd, I was home that day too. Quoted: I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did. Funny thing is that I did the same thing...faked being sick so I could watch the launch. |
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I was going into my HS chemistry class. The teacher had been watching the launch on a TV in his office. He told me the shuttle had exploded. I didn't believe him. It was like he told me the sun just went out. It seemed impossible.
It hit him pretty hard. He had tried for the seat that Christa McAuliffe had earned. He knew her from the selection process. That was a sad day. |
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more?
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Was in eighth grade and was at lunch when it happened so I didn't see it live. I seem to remember we went home early (or maybe we just didn't do anything the rest of the day).
Got home and watched the replay sixty billion times in a row. Definitely a horrible event. |
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I was two when this happened, but I do remember seeing the Columbia disaster. We were leaving the house that morning, heading to my youth state bowling tournament. I'd always been interested in planes, jets, space, etc, eventually landing a job in aerospace engineering. I looked up and saw the shuttle, I told my mom it looked like it was going way too fast during re-entry. We saw the news and saw the headlines, sucked.
I miss watching the launces, and listening to the transmissions online, I always thought it was awesome everything we did to get in to space. |
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Quoted:
"Challenger, go at throttle up." "Roger, go at throttle up." To me, these are the most haunting words I can remember hearing in my lifetime. Every time I've heard them since, I know that just seconds after they were said, a National tragedy happens. America needs the men and women that face the risks of space exploration. America needs our children to dream of being Astronauts again. Don't worry, there's no shortage of them. 6300 people applied for an astronaut class size of 9 to 15. And there's plenty of people like me who are perfectly willing to risk it all, but don't bother applying since we'll never have vision correctable to 20/20 in each eye. |
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I was only 4, so I don't really have a memory of it when it "happened." I do remember hearing about it several times in K-3 grade school though.
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Quoted: That part of our nation's history is just that, history. No. Not just history. It is much more than mere history. It is part of who we are. That we would take such risks then and if we could, today. It is part of America and what makes us great. Our government may have lost interest in spending the money to send us to space, but America has not lost its interest in going into space. Who among us would turn down a chance to ride that fire breathing dragon to space, even knowing the risks? "Roger, go at throttle up."
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Quoted: Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? I don't think anyone is saying it is more tragic than any other type of crash. The haunting thing, for me, was watching it blow up on live television as an 8-year old.
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? It isn't. But it was viewed by so many people that it's a collective experience many people share. Few witness a military crash, even at an airshow. Millions watched the Challenger break apart. Therefore it's not so odd that many people can say, "I remember the day....." |
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Show of hands: Who has read Diane Vaughn's book "The Challenger Luanch Decision"
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Quoted: Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? The helicopter crash would be a more comparable experience if millions saw it live after getting to know the crew members in the media over the preceeding months. That and a space shuttle launch is a lot more dramatic and rare than a helicopter taking off. |
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Godspeed, explorers. This. ETA - I happened to catch Columbia on the tube as HH6 and I were just leaving her Grandma's to go to breakfast. Her grandma asked "what happened?" "Bad" I replied. |
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? The helicopter crash would be closer if we saw it live after getting to know the crew members in the media over the preceeding months. That and a space shuttle launch is a lot more dramatic and rare than a helicopter taking off. Good point. At the time it was still rare and mysterious. It wasn't until much later when they became routine happenings. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did. Funny thing is that I did the same thing...faked being sick so I could watch the launch. Same here. Well, really I just wanted to stay home but I was watching it live. But I stayed home from school that day. Weird that a lot of us did. |
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Yeah, Max Q is pretty much the most dangerous time of the launch. I think I was in 5th grade when that happened. Godspeed, explorers. They were beyond Max Q at the time. ARFCOMers just love to throw out scientific jargon they don't really know Boosters were still at full thrust. Are you sure it was not max Q? Q = rho V**2 / 2gc. rho is going down, V is going up. Where is max Q? The shuttle main engines start throttling down from 104% to 94% at T +27 seconds. They are further reduced to 65% at T +45 seconds. At T +57 seconds the engines start throttling back up to 104%. Max Q occurs at T +59 seconds. At T +66 seconds the engines are back at 104%. Challenger disintegrated at T +74.6 seconds. |
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? The helicopter crash would be closer if we saw it live after getting to know the crew members in the media over the preceeding months. That and a space shuttle launch is a lot more dramatic and rare than a helicopter taking off. Good point. At the time it was still rare and mysterious. It wasn't until much later when they became routine happenings. Actually, not so much –– that is why NASA was flying the teacher, to recapture the interest, and the mystery. |
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Odd, I was home that day too.
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I stayed home from school that day to watch the launch... For some reason or school didn't show it in classrooms like a lot did. Funny thing is that I did the same thing...faked being sick so I could watch the launch. I was also absent from school, "sick", that day. I was at the neighbors house. Can still see how the room was arranged. |
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I was on AD getting an IG inspection of my Arms Room when they announced it on the radio.
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? I don't think anyone is saying it is more tragic than any other type of crash. The haunting thing, for me, was watching it blow up on live television as an 8-year old. Quoted:
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? It isn't. But it was viewed by so many people that it's a collective experience many people share. Few witness a military crash, even at an airshow. Millions watched the Challenger break apart. Therefore it's not so odd that many people can say, "I remember the day....." Quoted:
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? The helicopter crash would be a more comparable experience if millions saw it live after getting to know the crew members in the media over the preceeding months. That and a space shuttle launch is a lot more dramatic and rare than a helicopter taking off. Great answers, it's just a matter of perspective then. |
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I remember, I was 25, and having grown up in the middle of the space program, the launch was "ho-hum" for me, so I wasn't watching. Mistake...
Just watched " The Right Stuff: today, Yeager, the sound barrier, the Mercury program, worth watching again. I hadn't seen it in many years( maybe since I saw it int hte theater?), and really enjoyed it. People just don't seem to understand how the Manned Space Program makes us a better nation, leaders of men. Oboma is turning us into a second rate wanna be country. |
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Quoted: Just watched " The Right Stuff: today, Yeager, the sound barrier, the Mercury program, worth watching again. I hadn't seen it in many years( maybe since I saw it int hte theater?), and really enjoyed it. The Right Stuff is one of my favorite movies, got it on DVD |
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Why on earth is this more tragic or haunting than a military helicopter crash that kills just as many if not more? Whenever the Challenger is mentioned you usually don't see a mention of the other six people onboard: Greg Jarvis Ronald McNair Ellison Onizuka Judith Resnik Michael J. Smith Dick Scobee |
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