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Author
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Topic: Sharing memories of space shuttle Challenger
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Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted 06-01-2011 02:49 PM
   
And I might as well finish the set until posting the Atlantis one later this month. As with the Columbia thread, I don't want this turned into a thread dominated by STS-51L memories. Give us some other ones please as while Challenger's time was short, she flew some incredible missions.Only time I saw space shuttle Challenger in the flesh was spring of 1983. The 747 was going to make a stop at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX sometime around lunch. I was in elementary school at the time, so my folks couldn't take me to see it land. But, I was outside at recess when I looked off in the distance and caught site of the pair. I immediately stopped, pointed and shouted "There it is! The Space Shuttle!!" Many of the other kids and teachers stopped, looked over and saw the 747 with Challenger do its first flyby, turn and then disappear from view as it landed. In the spring of 1985, I attended Space Camp in Huntsville for the first time (my only time to date). This was the level two camp and you can see many of the things we got to play with in the Space Camp movie (filmed about 8 months after I was there). Back then, the class was divided into two teams and we flew four simulated missions at the end of the week. The team names were Discovery and Challenger. The camp gave the members of each team a hat and a separate patch for it. So given that I was on team Challenger, I got a nicely embroidered patch and a hat with the same patch sewn on it. I lost the hat in Germany in 1988, but I still have the patch. It is sewn onto a jacket I had in high school and it is still sitting in the closet all these years later. |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 06-01-2011 03:39 PM
Challenger holds a special place. It was the first shuttle I saw launched. June 18, 1983 on STS-7.I was a member of my hometown Bicentennial Committee. I helped arrange for our Bicentennial Medallion to fly aboard Challenger as 1983 was our Bicentennial Year. Invited to attend the launch, I met Gene Cernan (then a "color commentator" for ABC News, James Abrahamson, Hugh Harris. I attended the pre-launch press conference at the Press Site the day before launch. Too excited to sleep, I returned to the Press Site at 1:00AM on June 18th. Later that morning I met Robert McCall as he was doing some color studies for a painting. It was a wonderful experience and one I'll always cherish. | |
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