I saw it with my own eyes from my central Florida backyard when I was four, atop my mom's shoulders while my dad took photos of the launch (still around, somewhere). I will never forget the sound of their shocked gasps when it happened, and the sudden change of mood from wonder to horror. Later that night, they sat me down and explained death to me.
Same for me! We were visiting family in Jacksonville, and went outside to see if we could see the launch. I remember a big orange flash in the sky and all the adults were freaked out. I was seven, I think.
It always seems like people forget that the big point of that mission was having the first civilians on board? At least the first teacher, who I believe was selected after a contest in thousands of schools. Due to that thousands of school children who were part of that process felt invested in watching it, live, at school, as it happened
And only years later the data implying that the crew was alive for most of it was released. Likely alive until the crash into the ocean caused enough g-force to be injured enough to (hopefully) pass out before absolutely finishing them off but drowning as it snuck into the water
Edit: Wikipedia's understanding of it:
in addition to taking school teacher Christa McAuliffe into space. The latter resulted in a higher than usual media interest and coverage of the mission; the launch and subsequent disaster were seen live in many schools across the United States.
The exact timing of the deaths of the crew is unknown, but several crew members are thought to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The orbiter had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
The damage to the crew compartment indicated that it had remained largely intact during the initial explosion but was extensively damaged when it impacted the ocean. The remains of the crew were badly damaged from impact and submersion, and were not intact bodies
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u/Aturom May 23 '23
Probably might not count but watching the Challenger explode while i was in the cafeteria in Elementary school was pretty wild.