Honestly don't remember where I was.. but I do remember exactly where I was driving as I listened to Reagans speech and cried......

Here is the article Russ59 mentions.

http://www.espn.com/espn/featu...challenger-explosion

I remember that day like it was yesterday.

I was in my sophomore year for my Applied Math degree and was in between classes when we heard about it

skipped the rest of the day - glued to the TV in the engineering lounge figuring out that my career has just died along with the crew

I was a freshman in HS in Ocala, FL. We could always see them 10-15 seconds after launch if the weather was good. We were between classes and watching it when it happened, I had seen and been to enough launches to know what happened.

I was at work in Walter Reed. One of my techs came in and told us of the explosion. I got to a TV in time to see a parachute carrying a cone down. The announcer was saying the astronauts were safe. It was part of the booster.
Later was the news conference. Now, the pieces of the shuttle as still settling to the bottom.The media was asking “How long will this delay the next launch?” And “ What exactly went wrong?
Later, a person in my carpool told us the bodies were recovered. She was the senior research at the campus and was tasked to research various articles.

I was working at a store that sold big screen televisions.
We had about 36 hooked up and all on the same channel.
I was adjusting one when the launch started and shortly after I was surrounded by bad news.

The same thing happened on 9/11.....!

I was on my way to class at CU that morning (alma mater of Onizuka). Also my late brother's birthday who would be 51. Today kinda sucked.

I've become a fan of Feynman since then:

I was South bound on 285 in Atlanta when Challenger lifted off. Exited on La Vista rd and went into a Magik Market. By the time I got back in the car, the shuttle had exploded. I just sat there listening to the radio reporting. Just couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

I was in highschool, home that day as well. Winter break or a snow day, I don't recall. I had spent that morning and the day before assembling an off road RC car. I took it outside to take pictures of it in the snow. Came back inside and saw it all on Tv. I still have the pictures it took that day.

I do not remember where I was. Small children and I was probably working. Sad, but not a major life event. Think of the fact that today's college student does not have a personal memory of 911.

High school. Spanish class. We watched it live. My Spanish teacher pulled himself together quickly, but he was just as shocked and horrified as us. It was a day I haven’t forgotten.

It's believed that the seven crewmembers were still alive and conscious for at least 10 seconds after the explosion. Three of the emergency breathing packs were found to have been activated.

Such a sad day (I was working at a biomedical startup company at the time.)

I was in Mr Hamps english class in Sierra Vista Arizona. Watched it live.

I had a Dentist appointment that day, was home for lunch afterwards and saw it live.

I hope it was quick for them.

RIP, brave explorers.

I was in sixth grade, and my teacher was the only one in the entire school that wasn’t showing the launch that day, I don’t recall his reason for not letting us watch. The principal came over the school intercom and said a few words about what had happened, and I got details from my friends that were in other classes when we went to lunch. I didn’t see any footage until I got home from school.

I was at work at a power plant when I heard the news. I wasn’t terribly shocked, as an aero engineer friend of mine had once told me that they were sitting on 4.5 kilotons of explosive force at launch.

It was, however, an avoidable accident, as the managers at NASA ignored the safety engineers advice to delay the launch. I later found out that NASA was obsessed with keeping to their schedule, no matter what.

I was on active duty USMC stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. What a tragedy.

Was a senior in high school, sitting in FLorida history class watching the launch. How ironic being FL history class!

I was in school in the 8th grade. Principal came on the intercom and told the entire school. We later heard that he almost told the school WW3 was about to begin because he thought it was sabotaged by the Soviets.

I was a Petty Officer 3rd Class, I walked back into our shop from the flight line and My Division Chief told me the shuttle had just exploded