Where were you?

[The Bacon Junkie]

I remember Columbia too...

A close friend of mine is in the EPA.  I remember calling him to ask him if he had seen/heard about it.  I didn't get a hold of him for several days.  Then I saw him on the front page of USA Today wearing the chemical suit picking up debris...   

[DoubleEagle]

Running my Business , playing as much Golf as I could in the warm months , Body Building in the colder months and riding a Birch White and Chrome Yellow H-D Heritage Softail Classic.

Driving a '85 Porsche 928 S4, auto., Mars red w, black leather and slotted wheels .

Quad Overhead cams. V/8. Tilt Steering Wheel and Dash.

One fine car !

Very sad day .

Dolph

[Vindingo]

I was 2.  I don't recall space travel or being an astronaut as something I ever thought about as a kid.  Maybe this event has something to do with it?

I don't even know what an astronaut does, or why they would be someone's hero? 

[mstevens]

I was in medical school in Galveston and was home watching the launch coverage. I'm an Air Force brat and had watched every US launch since I was a toddler. Add the fact that Johnson Space Center was just up the road and that we were the medical school that did the most work there, and there was no way I was going to miss it.

My former colleague and teacher Pat Santy was in Launch Control watching, since she was the Crew Surgeon for that mission. She wrote about it at http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2005/01/challenger-flight-surgeon-remembers.html

[DesmoDiva]

I was in the 1st grade.

We were watching it on TV.

I remember my teacher turning off the tv real quick and redirecting our attention to something else.

My mom still has the local newspaper from the following day. 

[Monsterlover]

I saved the paper from 9-12-01 

[DesmoDiva]

She saved that one too.

Last time I noticed she had two large totes of old newspapers.   

Luckly she keeps them hidden our my dad would use them to start fires with. 

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Watched the launch on TV with my girlfriend and hoped, at first, that somehow the orbiter detached during the explosion and was gliding to safety.  I was in grad school working on a master's in engineering mechanics (stress, strain, elasticity, plasticity, continuum mechanics etc.)  There are analytical means to explain what happened but this is the best...

[Billyzoom]

sad to say this wasn't as much of a "where were you" moment for me or my classmates at the time. 

Somewhat true for me too, though I was in my early twenties.  For me and many I know, a moment more comparable and impactful was when we heard Magic Johnson was HIV+ and was retiring.   

Joel

[sno_duc]

I was at work.  At the time I was a test engineer working for an aerospace company that no longer exists.  We had many shuttle related programs...for the orbiter itself as well as payloads.  Work usually came to a stop to watch launches and nearly everyone was at a screen.  The effect on all of us was very intense.  Very sad day.

I was working for Rockwell (they built the Columbia), they set up tv's in the lunchroom for launches. Stunned looks, and WTFs whispered around the room. Oh yeah I remember.