My memories of Challenger exploding are vague. Watched it in class, no idea if it was first run (unlikely in the UK). I mean, I can tell you where I was sitting in which room an that the TV was over there on the cart, but all I can recall of my responses is "Huh. They're dead, right? Huh. But she was a teacher, not an astronaut. That's not fair."

Gods I feel old. I was working at a press clipping agency at the time, was walking through an area, saw a TV showing the blast and went "what?"

I was monitoring taped radio broadcasts. Given the time delays of the job, I didn't receive the tapes for that until a couple of days later. There was a broadcast in the middle of the night before the launch--2 AM network feed--that said a routine measurement of the temperature of the boosters showed a significant difference between the two booster, showing that the main tank was leaking somewhere and spraying onto one of the boosters. NASA hadn't decided if that was sufficient to delay the launch but they were reluctant to delay again and have to deal with all the media harrassment. That was the only time I ever heard that piece of information, from a network radio feed that went out in the middle of the night.

Nutty, that's funny I always thought you had a couple years on me.

Unfortunately I remember too many "jokes" about the incident too.

I remember where I was when Reagan was shot, Challenger exploded, Rabin was shot, and 9/11. But I can't remember why I went back into the kitchen this morning, when it seemed so important in the living room.

Peeps - MI-5? Is A&E still planning on showing it?

I somehow expected it to be happening already.

I remember where I was when Reagan was shot,

My dorm room. Some guy ran in. No wait - that was John Lennon's death.

Challenger exploded,

At work, watching on the TV with Christopher Knight (aka, Peter Brady)

Rabin was shot,

Don't recall.

and 9/11.

Saw it first on my computer when I checked my email.

Not terribly clear, but what the hell. Whale v. Shark

Not terribly clear, but what the hell. Whale v. Shark

Heh. Not only do Orcas kick the great white shark ass, they do it as casually as a suburban Mom picking up a tasty snack for their youngster.

Watched it in class, no idea if it was first run (unlikely in the UK)

probably not, since it was probably late afternoon GMT.

I remember when Sadat was assassinated very vividly. I was in 8th grade and that year I was the first one home every day. I remember thinking that afternoon about what I would do if there was some big news story that I would be the first one in the family to hear. And then I turned on the tv.

I remember where I was when Reagan and the Pope (and tellling a teacher in my afterschool program that the pope had been were shot and him thinking we were joking because it was so soon after the attempt on Reagan). And where I was when I learned that John Lennon had been killed (for some reason not until the following morning in home ec class).

But I don't remember where I was when I heard about Challenger. weird.

I thought I remembered seeing the chakllenger explode, but my math says I would have been 13, and therefore in 7th grade, while my memory of watching the shuttle on tv in a classroom has my 3rd grade teacher in it.

I do remember afterwards all the adults saying that this would be our "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" moment, but I have to say that 9/11 sort of blew that right out of the water.