Roger, go at throttle up.

[USS Avenger]

Twenty-five years ago.....

(Min:Sec).........Position Comment

T-2:05............MS 2..... Would you give that back to me?

T-2:03............MS 2..... Security blanket.

T-2:02............MS 2..... Hmmmmm.

T-1:58............CDR..... Two minutes downstairs; you gotta watch running down there?

(NASA: Two minutes till launch.)

T-1:47............PLT..... OK there goes the lox arm.

(NASA: Liquid oxygen supply arm to ET.)

T-1:46............CDR..... Goes the beanie cap.

(NASA: Liquid oxygen vent cap.)

T-1:44............MS 1..... Doesn't it go the other way?

T-1:42............ (laughter)

T-1:39............MS 1..... Now I see it; I see it.

T-1:39............PLT..... God I hope not Ellison.

T-1:38............MS 1..... I couldn't see it moving; it was behind the center screen.

(NASA: Obstructed view of liquid oxygen supply arm.)

T-1:33. .........MS 2..... Got your harnesses locked?

(NASA: Seat restraints.)

T-1:29............PLT..... What for?

T-1:28............CDR..... I won't lock mine; I might have to reach something.

T-1:24............PLT..... Oooooh kaaaay.

T-1:04............MS 1..... Dick's thinking of somebody there.

T-1:03............CDR..... Unhuh.

T-59..............CDR..... One minute downstairs.

(NASA: One minute till launch.)

T-52..............MS 2..... Cabin Pressure is probably going to give us an alarm.

(NASA: Caution and warning alarm. Routine occurrence during prelaunch).

T-50..............CDR..... OK.

T-47..............CDR..... OK there.

T-43..............PLT..... Alarm looks good.

(NASA: Cabin pressure is acceptable.)

T-42..............CDR..... OK.

T-40..............PLT..... Ullage pressures are up.

(NASA: External tank ullage pressure.)

T-34..............PLT..... Right engine helium tank is just a little bit low.

(NASA: SSME supply helium pressure.)

T-32..............CDR..... It was yesterday, too.

T-31..............PLT..... OK.

T-30..............CDR..... Thirty seconds down there.

(NASA: 30 seconds till launch.)

T-25............PLT..... Remember the red button when you make a roll call.

(NASA: Precautionary reminder for communications configuration.)

T-23............CDR..... I won't do that; thanks a lot.

T-15..............CDR..... Fifteen.

(NASA: 15 seconds till launch.)

T-6...............CDR..... There they go guys.

(NASA: SSME Ignition.)

MS 2..... All right.

CDR..... Three at a hundred.

(NASA: SSME thrust level at 100% for all 3 engines.)

T+O...............MS 2..... Aaall riiight!

T+1...............PLT..... Here we go!

(NASA: Vehicle motion.)

T+7...............CDR.............Houston, Challenger roll program.

(NASA: Initiation of vehicle roll program.)

T+11..............PLT..... Go you Mother!

T+14..............MS 1..... LVLH.

(NASA: Reminder for cockpit switch configuration change. Local vertical/local horizontal).

T+15..............MS 2..... S**t hot!

T+16..............CDR..... Ooohh-kaaay!

T+19..............PLT..... Looks like we've got a lotta wind here today.

T+20..............CDR..... Yeah.

T+22..............CDR..... It's a little hard to see out my window here.

T+28..............PLT..... There's ten thousand feet and Mach point five.

(NASA: Altitude and velocity report.)

T+30............ (garbled)

T+35..............CDR..... Point nine.

(NASA: Velocity report, 0.9 Mach).

T+40..............PLT..... There's Mach one.

(NASA: Velocity report, 1.0 Mach).

T+41..............CDR..... Going through nineteen thousand.

(NASA: Altitude report, 19,000 ft.)

T+43..............CDR..... OK we're throttling down.

(NASA: Normal SSME thrust reduction during maximum dynamic pressure region.)

T+57..............CDR..... Throttling up.

(NASA: Throttle up to 104% after maximum dynamic pressure.)

T+58..............PLT..... Throttle up.

T+59..............CDR..... Roger.

T+60..............PLT..... Feel that mother go!

T+60............ UNK..... Woooooohoooooo!

T+1:02............PLT..... Thirty-five thousand going through one point five

(NASA: Altitude and velocity report, 35,000 ft., 1.5 Mach).

T+1:05............CDR..... Reading four eighty six on mine.

(NASA: Routine airspeed indicator check.)

T+1:07............PLT..... Yep, that's what I've got, too.

T+1:10............CDR..... Roger, go at throttle up.

(NASA: SSME at 104 percent.)

T+1:13............PLT..... Uhoh.

T+1:13.......................(LOSS OF ALL DATA)



http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html


Michael J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, and Francis R. (Dick) Scobee in their launch and entry positions on the flight deck.


Shuttle mission simulator (SMS) scene of Astronauts Michael J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, and Francis R. (Dick) Scobee in their launch and entry positions on the flight deck with backup payload specialist Barbara R. Morgan (standing).

 

[23skidoo]

It's incredible that it's been 25 years. I was in Grade 10 and, like those who were alive when JFK was shot, and like those who later experienced 9/11, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. (And it's actually sci-tech related, too). One of our optional periods in Grade 10 was to work as an assistant in the school library. Since I had a background in computers (we had both an Apple II and a Pet at home and my dad wrote one of Canada's first elementary school-level computer science curriculums as well as a pioneering graphics program called "Banner" that I learned only a few weeks ago was used as far away as Germany) I was seconded to work on a special project: to help transfer the library's card catalogue into a computer file. It was as tedious as it sounds.

Anyway, I was working on this when the teacher-librarian came flying into the office, saying "We lost the shuttle." I'll never forget the quiver his voice had - it just struck me as odd. Me, personally, I'd forgotten the shuttle was going up. Like many I'd started to take it all for granted. I remember seeing the news a day or so earlier about the schoolteacher, but I was in Grade 10 and had lots of stuff on my plate.

Anyway, he pulled out the big "TV set on a rack" that schools used to wheel around to classrooms when they needed to watch something on TV (the ones that even in 1986 were still hooked up to the big-format videotape players that were used before the rise of VHS and Beta - I think this one had both a big-format and a VHS player, stacked). And we spent the rest of the period watching the set as more students came 'round. I'll also never forget a particularly insensitive comment one of the jocks made (if I repeated it, this would be come a Neutral Zone thread really fast so I won't).

It wasn't the first time I'd encountered a "you'll remember where you were" situation - I also remember what I was doing when I was in Grade 6 and the teacher told us Reagan had been shot, which for a few hours was looking as if it was going to be JFK 2.0).

Alex

 

[Sky]

I was 9 years old and had written fan letters to Christa McAuliffe. We were watching the launch, it was the evening or the afternoon (due to different time zones) and suddenly I just saw everything go wrong. What I remember best is the face of one of the launch controllers when he raised his gaze from his instrument panel to the main tv screen and saw the double smoke plumes.

My mom tells me I raised my hands to my face and wailed "I don't want to see this, I don't want to see this!"

 

[diankra]

And the point of posting all that was?
It was an awful event, and no-one who heard the news that day will ever forget it.

 

[USS Avenger]

I was in the third grade, and we all had to stay inside for recess due to the weather. My cousin was in 5th grade and his class had been watching the launch live on the "TV on a cart" that all the schools seemed to have back then. He came running down the hall yelling into every classroom that the shuttle has exploded. I didnt believe him until the school's principal announced it over the PA system.

 

[Trekker4747]

Tragic event, even more tragic is that it easily could have been prevented if NASA at the time had shown an ounce or two of competency. It's sad when you watch the video now and you can see the flame from the failed O-Ring burning into the fuel tank.



I wasn't really old enough when Challenger happened to "get it" but now, a decade and half after it occurred, it's just sad to think of it. Not so much the loss of life -tragic as that is- and the "damage" it did to the space program following it but one of the more tragic aspects of it is how much it could have been prevented.

Not sure if anyone has seen this, maybe as it was posted last year, but an armature video of the disaster:

VIDEO LINK

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I gotta tell you, when it comes to famous last words in an internationally recognized disaster, you can do alot worse than "Uhoh."

 

[Trekker4747]

I gotta tell you, when it comes to famous last words in an internationally recognized disaster, you can do alot worse than "Uhoh."

Second to, "What does this button do..."

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It happened while I was in the Navy dentist's chair. I saw the coverage right after it happened.

25 years flies right by, don't it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I remember it well because the o-ring on my bath trap failed for the same reason. I went into the kitchen to see if there was a leak showing through the ceiling, and heard the news of the shuttle disaster being announced on the radio as I walked into the room. Talk about syncronicity...

 

[MLJames]

I was in the Air Force, working on a flight simulator. Three of us were out in the trailer next to the shop, going through our cannibalization storage for some parts. When we came back in, our shop chief told us the shuttle had blown up, and we all thought he was kidding.