January 28, 1986
I was sitting in the Common Room with an early free period. I think it was day 2 and Religion wasn’t schedule for then. I had just settled down on the couch with some friends when someone came from the library.
“The shuttle has exploded.”
“Bullshit.”
“They’re showing it on tv in the library.”
We got up, went to the library and watched. What a catastrophe! I remember the iconic plumes of the solid rocket boosters, twisting free from the wreckage. I remember them doing their death spiral down until self-detonation. I remember the rain of debris as they seemingly floated gently down to splash into the ocean.
Twenty years ago. Yet it is still vivid in memory. I have had a morbid fascination with that event ever since and have read lots on the subject. Things an engineer has to know. Murphy’s Law. Blind luck. Pure fate. The gods have spoken.
NASA history of the Challenger tragedy.
