Message posted by Joe Buchman on January 30, 2011 at 0:12:27 PST:

I remember . . . it was a Tuesday.

I was in the second day of writing my answers to the 16 hours worth of comprehensive exams for my PhD at Indiana University -- 4 hours on Monday, 4 on Tuesday, 4 on Thursday and 4 on Friday . . .

I was about an hour into the second day, when . . . a voice from the office of the general manager of the PBS affiliate, WTIU-TV, said:

Oh God, No!. No!, no, no . . . no. Quick, Come in here!"

It was Bill Kroll, talking to his secretary.

I had no idea what had happened. Kept writing. Had a 15 minute break at the 2 hour mark about an hour later.

I watched Challenger explode on the replay maybe a dozen times, then teary eyed wrote 2 more hours, hoping like Peter that the orbiter might have landed or crashed somewhere, even partly intact.

Watched TV that afternoon and all day Wednesday.

Reagan's speech. Perhaps the best of his presidency . . .

I'll never forget it. Especially going outside after I was done on Tuesday and just looking up at the sky for awhile before going back to my apartment for 36 hours of television . . .

God Bless them all. Especially Gus Grissom of Apollo 1 who was from Mitchell, just south of Bloomington. His Gemini capsule is on display there at Spring Mill State Park. Most folks in those parts figure he would have been the first man on the moon if not for the fire.

Joe

Joe

In Reply to: Re: OT: Remembering Challenger posted by Mark on January 28, 2011 at 19:06:15 PST:

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