https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
Where were you?
I was at a friend's apartment in Heidelberg, Germany, munching on Burger King with my dad and another friend, on our way to a Mötley Crüe concert that evening, when their son (my brother's former classmate) came into the living room and told us that the Space Shuttle Challenger just exploded on takeoff.
Sitting in a study hall when the word came. The teacher turned on a TV and we all sat there in stunned disbelief.
https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/956519529097695234
Driving home from a college class.
I was wheeling a patient on a stretcher into a semi-private hospital room and the person in the other bed had the TV on the wall going with the breaking news report. That was the first I heard of it.
Quote from: bbmike on January 28, 2018, 10:53:45 AM
Driving home from a college class.
Damn, you're old! :hug:
Ancient Roman technology class in 3rd year University, when someone walks in and says "The shuttle blew up!" We didn't believe him until someone got a radio broadcast going. :(
11th grade World History class. Can't remember the lecture, and we were not watching the launch, but I do remember one of the other teachers coming in to say there was an "explosion on the Space Shuttle" when it launched. Nobody seemed all that concerned since he didn't sound like it was anything terrible, but then in the next class someone had a TV in there and we saw it.
Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 28, 2018, 10:55:38 AM
Quote from: bbmike on January 28, 2018, 10:53:45 AM
Driving home from a college class.
Damn, you're old! :hug:
And this thread made me feel so! (https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarcentral.com%2Fpics%2Fold.gif&hash=84795a126d2d2ae2464dec70f5c4a071b21b8caa)
Quote from: mirth on January 28, 2018, 10:11:43 AM
Sitting in a study hall when the word came. The teacher turned on a TV and we all sat there in stunned disbelief.
Same.
Quote from: Barthheart on January 28, 2018, 11:05:27 AM
Ancient Roman technology class in 3rd year University, when someone walks in and says "The shuttle blew up!" We didn't believe him until someone got a radio broadcast going. :(
Interesting: because some years later I learned that a contributing factor to the explosion was the width of a horse's butt thanks to ancient Roman technology! (I mean, inadvertently of course. A lot of good came out of it, too. The butt-width also contributed to the Nazis losing World War 2, for example.)
I don't remember where I was specifically on that day, but in January 1986 I was still in grad school.
The long gone, Little Soldier Hobby Shop in Alexandria, Va.
What I recall most vividly, though, is Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show that night.
He asked if NASA really meant, "Need Another Seven Astronauts."
Quote from: besilarius on January 28, 2018, 11:43:47 AM
What I recall most vividly, though, is Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show that night.
He asked if NASA really meant, "Need Another Seven Astronauts."
he seriously said that?
Don't remember which class I was in, but I was a junior in high school.
The Alzheimer's is creeping along, but have a very vivid memory of his saying that.
Believe he got a lot of heat next day over the comment.
I think the astronaut jokes started the next week or so at school, making the rounds. They were pretty bad to hear at the time, but humor is a coping mechanism of sorts.
15 years ago today
https://twitter.com/NASAhistory/status/959063540354174981
Quote from: besilarius on January 28, 2018, 08:10:05 PM
The Alzheimer's is creeping along, but have a very vivid memory of his saying that.
Believe he got a lot of heat next day over the comment.
I can't find anything that corroborates Carson saying that. In fact, it looks like Joan Rivers was guest hosting The Tonight Show the night of the Challenger disaster (and I can't find anything to suggest she said it either)
http://www.stand-upcomedyworkshop.com/audition/joanRivers.html (http://www.stand-upcomedyworkshop.com/audition/joanRivers.html)
Quote
January 28, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger blew up moments after its launch.
The nation mourned the untimely death of the astronauts.
But that night, Joan Rivers was guest-hosting "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
and David Letterman hosted his own show "Late Night."
Rivers wisely began the show by skipping the opening monologue, and replacing it with a sincere eulogy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson_episodes_(1986)#January (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Tonight_Show_Starring_Johnny_Carson_episodes_(1986)#January)
Joan Rivers' remarks start around 32:05
Maybe he made the comment after he returned.
I'd swear it was in his opening monologue.
It seems unlikely Johnny Carson would be so crass. And there's no footage of it that I could find. The closest thing was the Joan Rivers footage I posted above. She was guest hosting from Jan 27-31, 1986. I can't imagine Johnny coming back on Feb 1 and opening with a Challenger joke.
The "Needs Another Seven Astronauts" joke did make the rounds back then, as did a number of other sick jokes about the Challenger disaster.