Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 05:00:07 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #092 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Sat, 30 Jan 93 Volume 16 : Issue 092 Today's Topics: * corrected * SSF Util. Conference info Catch-22: (was Using off-the-shelf components) Challenger Disaster Help on Locating Planetarium Hardware Reason for SSTO/DCX and Market (3 msgs) Rent Mir/Commerical SS Fred not build it Rent Mir/Commerical SS Fred not build it. Science Fair JUDGES WANTED SSF Utilization Conference Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger (9 msgs) Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 06:45 PST From: kcowing@nasamail.nasa.gov Subject: * corrected * SSF Util. Conference info We noticed a typo in the earlier text I sent. Can you please post the *corrected* version that follows? Thanks again NASA SPACE STATION FREEDOM (SSF) UTILIZATION CONFERENCE TO BE HELD AT THE SAN FRANCISCO HILTON, JUNE 21-24, 1993, SAN FRANCISCO. At this conference and hardware exhibition, researchers can learn more about past accomplishments, present activities, and future plans and opportunities for space-based research. Space Station Freedom research capabilities and opportunities for commercial research will also be detailed. Research discipline sessions will cover recently completed or planned space-related experiments in life sciences, biotechnology, fluid physics, materials sciences, combustion, and technology development. Registration fees range from $90 to $250. For registration information, call 800-933- 2089 or send queries via fax to 202-863-8407, Attn: SSF Utilization Conference. If responding by e-mail please address reply to: ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:57:24 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: Catch-22: (was Using off-the-shelf components) Newsgroups: sci.space In <1993Jan28.143841.25475@cc.ic.ac.uk> atae@crab.ph.ic (Ata Etemadi) writes: >This sort of pseudo-nationalistic attitude probably goes a long way >toward nurturing bad will between your respective countries. I would >very much doubt that you know anything at all about the Russian space >effort. Gosh, no. And worse, I've just come back from listening to Harry Stine and Art Bozlee, who know even less. >For your information most people consider their launch >technology as approx. 10-15years ahead of the USA. Hence why they can >fly canned borsht. Uh, huh. Well, the Soviets/Russians have been flying canned foods for the last 20 years. In fact, they've been flying the same launchers for the last 20 years. Once they have something that works, they don't throw it away the we do, and they're perfectly satisfied with off-the-shelf food because they don't have the kind of money to throw around that NASA does. >Space-qualified has a very precise meaning namely, in the case of >the ESA, the component has to meet the criteria detailed in ESA PSS >01-701 etc.. which are part of a multi-volume set (I think its >only 12 or so volumes :-) Naturally. If you don't have 12 volumes of requirements, you can't justify the staff it takes to write 12 volumes of requirements (much less read them). >>Given a reliable, low-cost space transportation system, 1 and 2 >>become much less important. And if you have a rotating space >>station, with artificial gravity and earth-normal or near-normal >>atmosphere, 3 ceases to be important as well, and you can buy >>just about everything off the shelf. >The components will STILL have to pass vibration, outgassing and >ECM tests. Given beam transport technology, we could all go on >holiday on Mars with Mr Spock et al.. :-) Funny, I've never had an airline ask me if my equipment was "air-qualified," much less subject it to vibration, outgassing, or ECM tests. That's the difference between a transportation system and an expendable artillery shell. Or do you think the airlines are using beam technology, too? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 09:30:28 PST From: "UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER"@utspan.span.nasa.gov Subject: Challenger Disaster I was late to work, listening to the radio in the car. I got to work a little before liftoff. It takes about five minutes to get to my office from the parking lot; Challenger apparently exploded while I was en route. I remember the sinking feeling upon hearing of it, the depression for a while afterwards, and the sentence, "Obviously a major malfunction" spoken in a cool, passionless monotone. But I also remember thinking later that it was really being blown out of proportion in comparison to other tradgedies in the world. By comparison, by memories of JFK's assasination, when I was six, and of John Lennon's killing are much more vivid. I learned about Lennon from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football! _____________ Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER "Let machines multiply, doing the work of many, But let the people have no use for them." - Lao Tzu ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 12:17:34 MST From: shoran@NMSU.Edu (Stephen Horan) Subject: Help on Locating Planetarium Hardware I am assisting a local high school in locating information on obtaining a planetarium. They will have a 25-foot dome. The school will accept leads on good quality used equipment. Any help in this matter can be sent to me at the address below. Thank you in advance for your help. Stephen Horan, shoran@nmsu.edu New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Box 30001, Dept. SG New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:46:48 GMT From: "Edward V. Wright" Subject: Reason for SSTO/DCX and Market Newsgroups: sci.space In <1993Jan28.135651.18692@iti.org> aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer) writes: >The ticket will cost (round trip) $100,000 to $200,000 (assuming you pack >them in like sardiens for a very uncomfortable trip). On what do you base that estimate? What I heard from Boeing was "an order of magnitude more than existing jet aircraft," which puts it an order of magnitude below your figures. Other estimates support this. As for being packed in like sardines, have you ever flown a cattle ca... er, jet airliner? I'd rather spend 45 minutes, stuffed into a rocket, than 12 hours stuffed into an airplane. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:15:19 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: Reason for SSTO/DCX and Market Newsgroups: sci.space In article ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright) writes: >>The ticket will cost (round trip) $100,000 to $200,000 (assuming you pack >>them in like sardiens for a very uncomfortable trip). >On what do you base that estimate? 50 people flying round trip (and in a 15X15X30 space it won't be comfortable) at a cost of $5M to $10M per flight. >What I heard from Boeing was "an order of magnitude more than >existing jet aircraft," which puts it an order of magnitude >below your figures. Other estimates support this. round trip to Australia is about $3,000 so Boeing is estimating $30,000 or so which is well below an order of magnitude less than my estimate. As to the difference, there are too many factors which could expalin it. Indeed, it may be possible to cut the cost to $30K in volume but you won't be able to offer those prices initially. As it is I don't think the market for $30,000 airline tickets is that great. >As for being packed in like sardines, have you ever flown a >cattle ca... er, jet airliner? You need to compare it to first class. >I'd rather spend 45 minutes, >stuffed into a rocket, than 12 hours stuffed into an airplane. All things being equal, so would I. However, I wouldn't pay $27,000 more for it. Would you? Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves | | aws@iti.org | nothing undone" | +----------------------138 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:47:07 GMT From: Josh Hopkins Subject: Reason for SSTO/DCX and Market Newsgroups: sci.space nsmca@acad3.alaska.edu writes: >Uses for a SSTO/DC-X seem to be for long distance flying and for >low orbit launching of satelites and other packets.. If I remember correctly >hat SSTo/DC-X is.. Later is like how a F15 sent a missle into orbit for the SDI >tests.. SSTO is a generic term for a vehicle that gets into orbit it one piece. DC-X is a test vehicle for some of this technology. It is _not_ an SSTO. It is not capable of orbital flight or intercontinental flight. It is a _test_ vehicle. I know this sounds pendantic but people sound very silly when they get their vehicles so mixed up. It's a little like saying the astronauts deploy sattelites from the X-15. >Long Distance flights seem perfect, namely the London or Paris to Tokyo/Hong >Kong Route.. Or maybe Australia to US or Australia to Europe.. Any place where >people fly fro that takes more than 12 hours to fly normally or where they need >to get somepalce fast,., I wonder if the courior services would be interested.. >Also the Large Corps who ned to get people places fast.. SSTO will be far too expensive in the near term for passenger travel (except maybe for people who's time is incredibly important). However, it is not impossible that an operational Delta Clipper could bee used byt Federal Express for example. -- Josh Hopkins jbh55289@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu Q: How do you tell a novice from an expert. A: A novice hesitates before doing something stupid. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 15:28:10 EET From: flb@flb.optiplan.fi (F.Baube x554) Subject: Rent Mir/Commerical SS Fred not build it Matthew DeLuca > Sure, we can do as some people have suggested and rent Mir and buy > Soyuzes and use Energia and save lots of money, but the end result > would be the complete stasis of the space arm of the U.S. aerospace > industry, coupled with Russian dominance of space down the line. Did you ever hear about the benefits of free trade ? I thought re-entry capsules and disposable multi-stage boosters were supposed to be the means, not the end. A big Russian buy could be a short-to-medium term expedient to get our payloads and experiments off the damned ground and into space, while Delta Clipper and other excellent ideas might get some more (increasingly!) scarce resources. We'd be buying commodity goods while working on better. [Besides, any domestic development that drags on from year to year is vulnerable to the whims of the Congressional budget process; Russian hardware paid for with cash F.O.B. Kazakhstan need not be.] If we were talking about Long March, I'd say let the repressive SOBs *keep* their hardware. But the Russians are good guys now, and could use our business to keep their skills alive and their workers out of the employment of Saddam and other Stalin wannabes. We don't have all the answers and all the gadgetry; they can help us get to Mars and elsewhere. .. or is this naive ? -- * Fred Baube ..when you think your Toys you hear Laughter * Optiplan O.Y. * have gone Berserk cracking through the Walls * baube@optiplan.fi * it's an illUsion you're sent Spinning * GU/MSFS * you Cannot Shirk you Have No Choice * #include * -- Sioux proverb * >Where is PGP Ver.2 ?< * Nymphs vex, beg quick fjord waltz ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:05:46 GMT From: "Allen W. Sherzer" Subject: Rent Mir/Commerical SS Fred not build it. Newsgroups: sci.space In article <1k9b54INN5i1@phantom.gatech.edu> matthew@phantom.gatech.edu (Matthew DeLuca) writes: >>I know Mir is far from ideal, but what is.. Why reinvent the wheel when the >>wheel is already in Orbit?? >Because if you just keep using the same wheel, you never develop better >wheels. Sure, we can do as some people have suggested and rent Mir and >buy Soyuzes and use Energia and save lots of money, but the end result would >be the complete stasis of the space arm of the U.S. aerospace industry, >coupled with Russian dominance of space down the line. I'm not sure our current path will result in any difference. As it is, NASA is avoiding cheaper commercial services as much as it can. We are pouring more and more money into an infrastructure which is getting more and more expensive. The end result has been a statis of the US space arm for a long time. Maybe intelligent leverage of Russian technology (like Soyuz) combined with US capabilities in ELV and cheap commercial HLV's will allow space to become large enough to become self sustaining and end the stasis. Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves | | aws@iti.org | nothing undone" | +----------------------138 DAYS TO FIRST FLIGHT OF DCX----------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 26 Jan 93 20:04:42 GMT From: Jim J Moskowitz Subject: Science Fair JUDGES WANTED Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.research,sci.space,ieee.announce The Delaware Valley Science Fairs are seeking research-experienced scientists, engineers, and technologists willing to volunteer one (1) day to help one of the most important science education programs in the Delaware Valley. The 1993 DVSF will be judged Thursday, April 1st, 1993 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Judging requires a full day. Criteria for evaluating science projects will be provided (as will breakfast and lunch). Contact with student scientists in a Science Fair is an interesting experience for scientists or technicians with training and recent experience in any field of medicine, science, or engineering. To volunteer as a Science Fair judge, contact: Dr. Lee Bennett The Franklin Institute Franklin Parkway at 20th St. Philadelphia PA 19103 (215) 448-1269 or email your name and mailing address to jimmosk@eniac.seas.upenn.edu -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Jim Moskowitz "All you can logically say about jimmosk@eniac.seas.upenn.edu a guy who thinks he's a poached egg is that he's in the minority." - James Burke ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 06:14 PST From: kcowing@nasamail.nasa.gov Subject: SSF Utilization Conference Could you include this in the next edition of Space Digest? Thanks. Keith Cowing, SSFPO/Reston. NASA SPACE STATION FREEDOM (SSF) UTILIZATION CONFERENCE TO BE HELD AT THE SAN FRANCISCO HILTON, JUNE 21-24, 1993, SAN FRANCISCO. At this conference and hardware exhibition, researchers can learn more about past accomplishments, present activities, and future plans and opportunities for space-based research. Space Station Freedom research capabilities and opportunities for commercial research will also be detailed. Research discipline sessions will cover recently completed or planned space-related experiments in life sciences, biotechnology, fluid physics, materials sciences, combustion, and technology development. Registration fees are range from $90 to $250. For registration information, call 800-933-2089 or send queries via fax to 202-863- 8407, Attn: SSF Utilization Conference. If responding by e-mail please address reply to: ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:36:36 GMT From: "Robert A. Lentz" Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle In article <1993Jan28.010055.1691@ringer.cs.utsa.edu> sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth) writes: > >Just a reminder- 7 years ago today- 11:38am EST.... > >So, where were you when the Challenger disaster took place? > >It was during my sophomore of high school, and I was in English class >when they told us. > >No tribute of any sort was allowed, nor could we openly talk about it >without some sort of negative reaction from administrators. > >I remember it well, I even got in 'trouble' for this. > >Pro-space exploration views were not welcome. > >At least now things have improved. I was a junior in high school, and actually at lunch at the time. My sociology teacher told us when he got back, but between his joking nature and the subject of the class we did not take him seriously. Later, we found out the truth. After school I must have just sat in front of the tv shellshocked, watching the replays and coverage for over three hours. For several years after I managed to wear an arm band in tribute every January 28. It was even harder for my soon-to-be-girlfriend who dreamed of being an astronaut, it was her birthday. (Made it difficult to mix birthday celebration with tribute too... John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Pilot Officer Magee joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in October 1940, at age 18. He went to England to fly Spitfires. After qualifying, he was piloting one on a test flight into the stratosphere at 30,000 feet when he got the inspiration for "High Flight." Magee was killed in action during a dogfight December 11, 1941, at age 19. Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds -- and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -- wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew. And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. "If we die, we want people to accept it. We hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." -Gus Grissom -Robert Lentz -- r-lentz@nwu.edu "Why the Moon? Why Mars? Because it is humanity's destiny to strive, to seek, to find. And because it is America's destiny to lead." -President George Bush on the Space Exploration Initiative ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 1993 20:21:34 GMT From: no one of consequence Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle The day the Challenger exploded I was a sophmore in high school. I was sitting in my English class doing some assignment when the PA system came up and the principal announced that the shuttle had exploded. The rest of the day went by in a dazed sense of shock. Seeing a picture or a recording still hurts sometimes. I share the hope that it will never happen again but I know that something like it will. As spaceflight becomes more common, accidents will happen sometime. I just hope the accidents are only minor though. I also hope it takes less time for the launching agency to have the courage to try again instead of covering their tails. An upbeat note: One of my better days in life was watching the first post-Challenger shuttle launch when I was a freshman in college. Everyone in the room was applauding when the shuttle went up while I caught myself muttering "Come on, go go go go go go. You can do it!" :-) -- /----------------------------------------------------------------------\ |Patrick Chester wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu| |"If the Earth is our Cradle, then why are we still here?" | |Everything your side says is Truth. All else is Propaganda.... | |I only speak for myself. If I *did* speak for UT, would anyone listen?| \----------------------------------------------------------------------/ ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 1993 20:36:05 GMT From: Jeff Foust Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space I was a freshman in high school in Council Bluffs, Iowa, when it happened. I didn't hear about it for about a half-hour: I had just walked into my 4th-hour class when another teacher ran in and said to no one in particular, "The shuttle just blew up!" I couldn't believe what had happened, because I simply could picture the shuttle exploding. Only when class started and our regular teacher said, "I just heard that the shuttle exploded. It's a tragic moment for our space program. Now let's get to work," did I believe it. For the rest of the rest of the school day I was in a daze. No one seemed to want to talk about it, and none of my teachers had made any mention of it, let alone show TV coverage of what took place. Only when classes let out at their usual time was I able to run home, four blocks away, turn on the TV and see for the first time what had happened. I felt sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. For the remainder of the week I wrote in the corner of every homework assignment I turned in the words "Remember the Challenger" -- my own minor tribute to them. None of my teachers ever commented on it. In the fall of 1988, when STS-26 was launched, I made sure my classmates and teachers knew about the ressurection of the shuttle program. I managed to convince, on very short notice (less than ten minutes before launch) my hardnosed calculus teacher to interrupt class so that we could watch the launch on a TV that I had managed to borrow from my physics teacher. After the shuttle was safely on its way, my calc teacher said, "Well, it's good to see the shuttle program back on track. Now let's get to work." Some things don't change... -- Jeff Foust Senior, Geophysics/Planetary Science, Caltech jafoust@cco.caltech.edu jeff@scn1.jpl.nasa.gov Final score of the Interstellar Space Deep Space 9 Station Championship Softball Game: Babylon 5 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:08:37 GMT From: Richard Ottolini Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle I know people are tired of hearing this this newsgroup, but I am still not convinced NASA told us all about the last moments of the astronaunts. Then there is another part of me that says it is not my business. I think perhaps the opening crash scene in the new movie "Alive" capture some of the terror in an aerospace accident. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:24:55 GMT From: Mary Shafer Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle I was sitting in the conference room here at Dryden, watching NASA Select and re-reading the syllabus for my 1330 flight in the Calspan Variable-Stability Learjet. After I regained my composure, I called down to the Test Pilot School and told the Calspan pilot that we'd lost the Shuttle and all on board. I went ahead and had my flight, but I felt very detached. I eventually managed to get another flight, when I explained when my first one had been. Dick Scobee had flown our F-111 TACT when he was still a test pilot here at Edwards and I knew him from that program. His first Shuttle flight had been supposed to land at KSC and had waved off to Edwards at the last minute. I'd managed to get out here for the landing (I'd also been at KSC for the launch) and I took the only pictures of the landing. My pictures got added to the NASA collection and I'd given Dick a number of copies (for himself and the rest of that mission's crew) about a month before the Challenger accident. He signed one of each of the best photos for me, too. Dick was a really nice guy. I've seen at least one person call the deaths of the astronauts a great tragedy; here in the flight test community, this is not a widely-held belief. Those seven people were doing something that they _really_ wanted to do, something that they had volunteered for, waited for, trained for. They knew and accepted the risks. Their deaths were sad, of course, but it was not a great tragedy. -- Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all." Unknown US fighter pilot ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:31:32 GMT From: John Clear Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle In article nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes: > >Oh, give me a break. Seven trained people, flying a brand-new, >more-or-less untested vehicle? They knew the risks. How is this even >comparable to massive tragedies like the famines in the Horn of >Africa, or the Azerbaijan earthquake, or even to the Lockerbie >bombing? To any airliner crash? There are even highway pileups which >kill more. > >Sure, it's a tragedy. But don't go blowing it out of proportion. > >Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu I'll agree with you that in comparison to some other tragedies, it isn't as bad, but it seemed more personal then the others because we `knew' the people involved. The tragedies you mentioned involve nameless faces, but the Challenger Astronauts were know to everyone, more so then on a regular mission because of the added publicity of the teacher. Most people reading this group I'm sure dream (or have dreamed) about becoming astronauts, and when your dream is shattered in a way such as this, it is a tremendous personal tragedy. I was in the 8th grade, eating lunch when I heard. A friend of mine told me, and at first I didn't believe it. After seeing the replay on TV a few times it started to sink in that it really happened. When I got home from school, I just sat there in front of the TV for hours, just watching it in disbelief. John -- John `SpaceCadet` Clear - jac@mentor.cc.purdue.edu, clearja@mentor.cc.purdue.edu PP-ASEL C/LTC, CAP-NYW "Aviation is proof, that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible." -- Eddie Rickenbacker ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 21:44:12 GMT From: "Keith A. Grimm" Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle In article , nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes: |> In article <5=r30mh@rpi.edu> gallas2@marcus.its.rpi.edu (Sean Michael Gallagher) writes: |> |> [about the Challenger disaster...] |> |> Where were you? I was in grade school, and it was raining so we were inside |> for our lunchtime recess. The teachers let us watch the launch live (My |> teacher was a teacher-in-space candidate.) We spent the whole afternoon |> trying to figure out what happened, and the flag was lowered to half-staff |> that day and for the following week. I can't believe they wouldn't let you |> discuss one of the most tragic events in recent history. |> |> Oh, give me a break. Seven trained people, flying a brand-new, |> more-or-less untested vehicle? They knew the risks. How is this even |> comparable to massive tragedies like the famines in the Horn of |> Africa, or the Azerbaijan earthquake, or even to the Lockerbie |> bombing? To any airliner crash? There are even highway pileups which |> kill more. |> |> Sure, it's a tragedy. But don't go blowing it out of proportion. |> |> Nick Haines nickh@cmu.edu |> |> PS: I was in school, heard about it from a teacher, watched it on TV |> that evening. Those are tragedies true. But do you see them on television as the abruptly happen?? Believe it or not that does make a difference. It was also the first accident of this kind, an in-flight spaceflight accident, that our country experienced. It was the SHOCK! Our space program had accomplished things that no one else had. It felt like fate had slapped us in the face and all of us in NASA felt the loss. Keith A. Grimm NASA-JSC ------------------------------ Date: 28 Jan 1993 12:34 CST From: "Guillot, Burt J." Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle I was in 6th grade on my way to gym class (second period). On the way there, something mentioned "the shuttle blew up". I thought it was a joke. Nothing was mentioned in second period. I went to third period. Nothing was mentioned and everyone in the class I asked about it thought I was joking. I then went to lunch, and the principal of the school was standing there, so I decided to ask her. She cofirmed my fears that it had blown up, but I still could not really believe it. After that, during fourth period, my English teacher was the first teacher to mention it. Many of the students commented about how they saw it happen "live" during their science class 3rd period. The thing strange about that though was that I first heard of it, before it "happened" on the way to second period. I don't remember the time schedule of classes, so I can't confirm which period it would have occured in, but that's something that bothered me ever since. Regards, B.J. Guillot ... Houston, Texas USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 16:18:21 -0500 From: Lawrence Curcio Subject: Today in 1986-Remember the Challenger Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,sci.space Oh God. I was in Martin Marietta Environmental Systems watching on a portable TV set with a room full of other employees. MM make the space shuttle tank, which of course blew up right in front of us. TALK ABOUT DEPRESSING!!! We were still bumbed months after Morton Thiokol took the hit. Every one of us felt responsible, even though we had handled only the environmental aspects of the tank project. -Larry C. ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 092 ------------------------------