Wow, some things I truly didn't know in there. That's tough. I seem to remember being shepherded into the 3rd grade classroom (I was in 2nd) to watch this launch in the room with the TV. I don't know if it was a direct satellite feed as they discuss in the article or just local news. I don't remember feeling that strongly about it at the time, like it didn't make much of an impression on me. I don't even remember whether we talked about it in class or if we just went back to routine.

Maybe we had all been sent back to math class when they cut away from the live feed the first time and missed the "explosion" altogether. 

posted by natedogg at 02:22PM CST on January 27

Here's what 10 year old me remembers from the crash/ media coverage:

Myth #1: I didn't have a snow day (unlike mr. habcous) and was at school when I heard the news. We weren't watching it live, although I know that Christa McAuliffe's class was. It was during the day so I can't imagine a lot of people saw it while it was happening.

Myth #2: I always thought that the shuttle exploded which maybe was why I believed in Myth #3. I'm with you, pino. That is really disturbing. That was an awfully long freefall.

Myth #4 & #5: I hadn't heard of either of those theories until now. I remember people talking about an O ring being damaged, but I didn't learn the details until a polymer science course 10 years later. I also had no idea that Feynman was involved in that commission until reading "What do you care what other people think?"

Myth #6: I was blissfully unaware of any motivations people had for launching the shuttle then. Although if I was older, I bet I would have been skeptical and believed this myth.

Myth #7: This one is interesting to me. I didn't hear that there were concerns about the O ring design before the launch. I just figured that things like this just happen. Even now I think that there is no way to prevent every type of possible failure. If brakes can still fail on cars, then why shouldn't a space shuttle be dangerous? I guess I never thought that designers would know of possible flaws ahead of time but keep their mouths shut. It reminds me of that recall formula from "Fight Club". 

posted by NanoCindy at 03:12PM CST on January 27

I remember watching (not sure if live or replay) in 5th grade (i'm not that old - just got pushed up a few grades, and if you believe that I've got a car to sell you).

It didn't really make a big impression on me either - but I do remember Challenger jokes circulating through the school by the end of the day.  

posted by pablo at 03:17PM CST on January 27

I was 11, in 6th grade. I remember being at recess and coming back in to watch it. Our science teacher cried -- a big deal for us. I think we wanted to make fun of him for it but were also impressed.

Everyone in the world should read Edward Tufte on the engineering failures leading up to the disaster. His new book discusses how information design failures persist at NASA. (He argues that powerpoint is good for salespitches and lousy for information transport.) 

posted by mrflip at 03:45PM CST on January 27

Pablo, I have the same experience that you did regarding the jokes. (Well, I guess it was the following day because of my aforementioned snow day). A bunch of other people I have asked also recalled the jokes being there almost immediately, and I've always wondered how this happened pre-internet. It's not like Johnny Carson told them the night of the disaster or something. Must have been Blanche Knott's telepathic transmitter. 

posted by habcous at 04:44PM CST on January 27

I recall hearing once about a study done on transmission of jokes among english schoolchildren that found not only remarkable speed and dispersion but also universal insulation -- the joke was widespread long before adults heard of it. But the next day -- I don't believe that.

I haven't found that, but I found some interesting info on children's street culture including Junkyard sports and the intro to The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, a book by the researchers who first investigated children's lore. 

posted by mrflip at 05:26PM CST on January 27

I am not sure if it is the beers that are making my brain not function, but I do not understand the Tufte charts. I guess I am just not a child. 

posted by giuseppe at 01:12AM CST on January 28

I knew that.

Failure and disaster are things that fascinate me to no end. If I had known abou tit earlier in life I probably never would have gone into construction but would have instead gone into the relm of physical forensics and accident reconstruciton. I read and watch a lot about this stuff, so I learned a lot of these things about Challenger.  

posted by TowtruckJohnny at 05:49PM CST on January 28