After the assassination of John F Kennedy, this moment was....

[whistle]

...the 2nd most unforgettable time in my life:

ON THIS DAY

On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.

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[Triana]

1. I remember that...

...for days before I had some inkling 'something' was going to happen. It was like some sort of 'buzz'.

Like the Kennedy assassination, they kept playing that explosion over and over and over. I can still see it in my mind.

[whistle]

8. I was at work in Winter Park Florida and a group of us...

...took a break to watch the lift-off of the shuttle which we could see from 45 miles away as the crows fly. Several people had portable radios and the excitement was very high as the rocket fuel smoke trail became visible over the tree line to the east of us. The space shuttle main rocket was clearly visible at the head of the smoke much like a distant jet liner is flying at 20,000 feet from the ground.

Suddenly there was that burst and the separation of the rocket plumes, many of us thinking that the booster rockets had been dropped from the main rocket. Seconds later the entire shuttle was exploding and rocket smoke trail separated into three distinct trails and things began falling. I was stunned when I came to the realization that something very serious had happened and then shocked a few seconds later when the radio announced that there had been an explosion on board the shuttle. Minutes later because of the distance we could hear the faint roar of the rocket engines. I did not want to stay outside and witness what I thought would be sound of the explosion. All I could do was go back inside and try to work to get my mind off of the horror of it all.

People were abuzz with speculation and disbelief. I only knew that the shuttle against better advise from certain NASA engineers had been launched under protest due to extremely cold weather conditions as Reagan administration officials for weeks and months had been applying pressure to make the shuttle program operate more like a transportation system into space, rather than what it still was, a scientific experiment into space travel. I remember being angry and sad at the same time, sad for the families of the astronauts and the tragic loss for our country, angry at the administration and the bureaucrats for being so irresponsible as to ignore the realities at that time of the risks and the best advice from engineers with first hand know

Like the JFK assassination 23 years earlier, I had a sense of tragic loss and many questions as to how and why such a thing could happen. I contrast that to the events of Tuesday September 11, 2001, where my almost immediate reaction to the situation was one of disbelief that again the country was being mislead and duped and my anger began to grow almost immediately. Perhaps it was because I was much older and experience had taught me that the questions of how and why such a thing could happen really were the wrong questions to be demanding answers for. Instead, I wanted to hear from the highest levels of government, their responses as to what they knew, when they knew and what measures they had taken to prevent such a series of events from happening. We all know what that response from the Bush administration was, avoidance, cover-up, secrecy and suppression. That is why I am still angry and will never accept any explanation until the truth comes out.

[Triana]

16. My first thought when I saw 9-11:

*********THEY KNEW*************

[against all enemies]

2. You don't remember the World Trade Centers falling down?

Come on now, not even close.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Or the Oklahoma bombing?

[whistle]

9. See above...

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. I was at a gas station when it happened. People were looking

up at the sky, but I was late for a dentist appointment so I took off without verifying what they were seeing. If it was the space shuttle take off, I had seen the vapor lines before so it wasn't until I was in the dentist chair and overheard the receptionist and the dental hygienist talking before I connected what had happened. I do remember it was an eerily cold January day. One of those rare Florida winter days when the air feels thin and dry, and the sky is clear.

[Hollowkatt]

5. I remember

I was in third grade then. I had asked to go to the bathroom, knowing that the launch was being watched in the office and I ducked in there just in time to see the launch begin. The secretary noticed me in there and let me stay because she thought it would be a good experiance to watch the shuttle take off.
Then it exploded. The secretary and the headmaster told me to stay in the office and they had a little conference between themselves. They decided that I could not return to class untill they made an announcment to the school about what just happened.
When you're 9 thats really scary :(

[Minstrel Boy]

7. that reminds me

I remember Christie McAuliffe's classroom watched the launch live. Video was broadcast of their reactions. So awful.

[wicket]

10. That was horrible

So heartbreaking :(

[democrat in Tallahassee]

6. I watching the launch out the window and we weren't sure what

happened. But I remember seeing two contrails in the sky. Also in another part of the sky a plane had just drawn a happy face. This was chilling. I was living in Orlando at the time.

[htuttle]

11. You know, I remember those things, but...

...I can't say they were the most unforgettable days of my life.

For that, I'd have to think of days like the day I met my first wife, the day my daughter was born, the night my first wife left me, the day I got promoted to my current job, the night I met my second wife, the day we got handfasted, etc... THOSE are my strongest memories.

Those disasters you mention I didn't have much connection to -- I didn't know anybody involved in them. They were mostly days I stayed home and watched TV -- which isn't much of a memory.

I guess I'm not that vicarious when you get right down to it.

:shrug:

[SmokingJacket]

14. It's strange, but memories you have because of horror are different

from the positive memories.

For me, the good memories, like when each of my children was born, have a kind of softness... I remember them vividly and with lots of feeling, but not with that icy, sharp quality I remember the bad stuff.

[htuttle]

15. I can remember bad things that happened to me personally

...with that same crystal clarity you mention. I can remember nearly every split second of the last time someone tried to rob my taxicab almost 20 years ago, including how much I was sweating at each moment.

But the stuff I only saw in TV? It didn't have the same impact on me I guess.

[MarianJack]

12. My Aunt and Uncle,...

...who were both retired and had more than a few dollars, always timed their vacations in Florida so they could watch launchings. They thought it was one of the most horrible things they had ever seen.

They continued their vacation (they were in a time share), but were just going through the motions.

For myself, I don't know why, but I was more effected by the Columbia than the Challenger.

[amber dog democrat]

13. and both were due to the actions and decisions of a group of individuals

Only we know about the decision making process regarding the weather and Morton Thiakol ( sp ) and NASA. I case where adminsitrators put their own interests above the safety of others

What may never come to light is what agencies and vested interests were behind the killing of JFK. I walked that site and tried to work out the event as a sniper acting as the Warren Commission stated.

There is no way it could have gone down the way the American public was led to believe. Personally I wonder if rightwng Cubans aided by rougue CIA elements wern't involved.