The 20th anniversary of this horrific tragedy is almost upon us. It was 20 years ago, but I still remember it well. I was almost 10 years old and I remember what a saddened time it was.

I have been watching a lot of specials lately on TV about this - it is still painful to watch, even 20 years later. Still sends chills.

I think we should take a few moments to remember the seven astronauts that lost their lives in this horrific event.

The special is coming on the Discovery Channel again this week incase anyone is interested.

Not sure if anyone is interested, but today is the official 20th anniversary of this disaster.

This was on CNN - informative data.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/01/27/challenger.at.20.ap/index.html

I think we should take the time to remember the families of those that perished in this tragedy.

I know it is painful and I do not mean to bring up old memories, but just like 9-11-01, we should "never forget" or ignore.

I was home with my 3 1/2 year old son and we were watching it live on tv that day. All I could do was hug him when it happened. Somehow even he knew something very bad had happened. Gained a lot of respect for the mid-day news anchor. It was obvious she was crying when they switched to her from the Florida feed.

For an insightful perspective on the bureaucratic response to Challenger, see Richard Feynman's take on the investigation.

B

I had recently turned 8 when it happened. I was home from school (snow day I think) and living in St. Louis at the time.

I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday. He told me that they had this idea "THEY" (the Government) were going to send four enlisted men into space, one each from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Dad was in the Army at the time. He volunteered. "THEY" made some initial cuts, and he was on the list of 100 soldiers they were considering when "THEY" decided to kill that program and put a teacher in space instead. I guess I'm glad THEY decided what they did.

Bummer what happened. Space travel isn't exactly safe. Those who perished knew the risks and decided to take them. It didn't work out so well. For their bravery, I salute them.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

tragic indeed. Also is it tragic that technologically not much has happened since. I guess the money is being spent otherwise....

__________________
quoting 240DieselDog: "...the 115/240D is a better car than any that have since been built - that's *any* car from any automobile manufacturer."

I was in school when the shuttle exploded. I was one of the radio DJ's for the college radio station at the time. I immediately ran to the station, got on the air, and announced to the school what had happened. I'm sure most of us will never forget where we were and what we did.

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Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.

Well, I was in the the 4th grade and about to turn 10 years old, but I do not recall the moment it happened. I think I was in school, but we were not watching it on TV. I do not think any of us learned about it until we got home. I remember it was all over the local news stations and I remember mom and pop being most upset.

When I see the playbacks of it exploding, I remember it very plainly - it is just as I remembered it. I remember how chilling it was (and still is) to watch it go in all different directions.

Still not easy to watch it, but we must never forget them. Actually, up until 9-11, it was one of the worst disasters (non-natural) that I remember.