Space Shuttles officially given their new homes...

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Space Shuttle Challenger: About 3 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral

Space Shuttle Columbia: Strewn across a fair chunk of Texas



...Okay, not cool, I know. But when I lived a 10 year fallout with Challenger, and then having to watch my dad burst into tears with Columbia, it's kinda fucking easy for me to make light of them blowing.

How old were you? (Challenger)

[Suu]

Space Shuttle Challenger: About 3 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral

Space Shuttle Columbia: Strewn across a fair chunk of Texas



...Okay, not cool, I know. But when I lived a 10 year fallout with Challenger, and then having to watch my dad burst into tears with Columbia, it's kinda fucking easy for me to make light of them blowing.

How old were you? (Challenger)

Three and a half, and I remember it on TV vividly because of my mom freaking out and then my dad coming home early. (I have a crazy memory. I also remember when my brother was born and Hurricane Gloria the previous year.) Dad worked for Grumman and it was his parts that were faulty. Someone forged his signature when he refused to send the parts...it was a mess. It didn't get cleared up until like 1996, right when that big ol' chunk of her washed up on Cocoa.

I got used to having guys from NASA and the FBI over A LOT.  :/


Columbia I was with Herbert at his parents' house, and my phone rings while I was in bed, "Suu, the shuttle just went. Get home before your dad has a breakdown." And then I got to watch replays of the fucker over and over again.

I have had nightmares of Discovery going next. It's not cool.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

I was 10. At school.
It was lunch time and we all went outside to watch.

....





It still makes me sad. Both of em. Especially my mom calling me about Columbia crying like a child and I had to calm her down and remind her that they knew they were taking a risk and they did it for SCIENCE. (yeah I used those words.. right then)

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I had just turned 18 when the Challenger was lost.  I think every school across America had kids in classes or assembly halls watching the take off because of Christa McAuliffe.  We were in the auditorium and they had the newscast showing on the big screen. 

Columbia was a Saturday and we were at the beach with the kids, the boys were trying to skim board.  Dad called mom on her cell.  I just remember trying to explain to the boys why she and I were so sad when they really didn't understand what was going on.

[Suu]

I was 10. At school.
It was lunch time and we all went outside to watch.

....





It still makes me sad. Both of em. Especially my mom calling me about Columbia crying like a child and I had to calm her down and remind her that they knew they were taking a risk and they did it for SCIENCE. (yeah I used those words.. right then)

It was fucking horrible. I may have been little, but seeing your father's work literally go up in flames isn't easy. I remember for years we had this huge model of a shuttle he built, and he would show us the parts he worked on, and then demonstrate how the tanks would separate and how the craft would turn into the window. Having the Space Program on your resume is priceless, unfortunately, having a mark like, "My parts are what blew the Challenger" isn't. There is someone rotting in jail for a long time for forging my dad's name, as well as 7 counts of manslaughter.

He's not doing any work for Space X, but he is still doing pieces for NASA. He's got parts on the Hubble and the ISS. It's cool shit, aerospace.

[Suu]

On the other end of the spectrum, my grandfather also worked for Grumman, and did parts for the Lunar Module. His engines on the capsule are what saved Apollo 13.