I posted this elsewhere, but very few people saw the Challenger explosion live as the launch was only available to watch via satellite. So when Gen Xers say that, it’s either a false memory or they went to some insanely expensive private school.
Replies
No, many public schools had grant-subsidized satellite TV.
apr 20, 2025, 3:40 pm • 3 0 • view
I was in the 2nd grade and we absolutely watched it live. We had snacks and they wheeled in the TV cart. I was in public school.
apr 20, 2025, 5:27 pm • 1 0 • view
This. And we got sent home too, so…
apr 21, 2025, 2:29 am • 0 0 • view
You're wrong. This was broadcast on live TV for kids because there was a teacher on board. In Florida we watched it IN THE SKY. Don't tell me what I remember.
apr 20, 2025, 6:41 am • 4 0 • view
I was in 2nd grade, not at a private school, not even a rich public school. We spent weeks learning about what was going to happen and everything Christine had to do to prepare. We watched it live, on a TV atop a cart. I can still see my teacher's face not understanding what had happened.
apr 20, 2025, 12:30 pm • 8 0 • view
I remember vividly watching it 'live' on TV, aged 15. It was after school here (UK), around 4.30pm. I just Googled it, and it was actually broadcast (on a BBC children's programme called Newsround) on a 20 minute delay. But it was shown 'as live', so when the shuttle exploded we were in total shock.
apr 20, 2025, 10:06 am • 5 0 • view
This is absolutely incorrect. It was carried over the air by major networks. Their coverage was cut after it exploded. CNN - you know…basic cable? They stayed with it post explosion. This stuff is easily verifiable but people just love to feel smart.
apr 20, 2025, 4:08 pm • 1 0 • view
And this is so easy to Google! WTF is wrong with people that they believe their own assumptions before looking for facts? www.cbsnews.com/news/january...
apr 20, 2025, 3:49 pm • 5 0 • view
That is literally not true though. They were playing in schools because one of the astronauts was a teacher. I don’t understand why you are lying about this.
apr 21, 2025, 12:22 am • 3 0 • view
Hi. This is nonsense. Not only was it broadcast on basic cable, but many schools (including mine) wheeled in TV sets so we could watch it live.
apr 20, 2025, 3:21 pm • 13 0 • view
pretty arrogant and "pick me for attention" of you to not check facts and post this. tens, if not thousands of hundreds of schools had this on live or on the network channel replays during the school day. my school was a public school in a blue collar area, of about 3000 kids and we all watched it.
apr 20, 2025, 5:30 pm • 1 0 • view
You are full of shit. We watched it live. I was a high school sophomore in a public school. They wheeled the TVs right into the classrooms. Not on satellite.
apr 20, 2025, 7:16 pm • 3 0 • view
It was on TV. It wasn’t all that “traumatic”
apr 20, 2025, 3:51 pm • 0 0 • view
Ever hear of over the air television? Every network was covering it and broken into regular programming afterward. We had one classroom with a tv and an antenna. We didn’t see the launch live but gathered in a classroom shortly after to watch coverage.
apr 20, 2025, 5:18 pm • 2 0 • view
Yeah also anyone posting this stuff pretending to speak on behalf of everyone in their age bracket - you can bet they were insufferable & self regarding back then as they are now. youtu.be/lXJ1yjaXkaI?...
apr 20, 2025, 4:07 am • 1 0 • view
I am not positive I saw it live but it was widely broadcast. Maybe what I saw was a replay but the fact that that it wasn’t live doesn’t take away from the fact that we saw it over and over and we knew exactly what we were seeing.
apr 21, 2025, 3:00 am • 0 0 • view
My kindergarten teacher had the news on for the whole day after that, no real teaching happened that day
apr 21, 2025, 3:00 am • 0 0 • view
We had cable but not satellite at home, because I was 6, I don’t know the particulars of my elementary school A/V setup
apr 21, 2025, 3:01 am • 0 0 • view
I am not comparing horrors here, just commenting on the specific claim of who could have seen it
apr 21, 2025, 3:02 am • 0 0 • view
You're wrong. The launch was watched live in schools all across the country because of the interest in the teacher in space program.
apr 21, 2025, 12:03 am • 2 0 • view
you're wrong. I went to a public school. they doubled up classrooms and they wheeled in the AV Carts so we could watch the shuttle. this one was special because the teacher was going into space. it wasn't just on satellite. it was on broadcast TV. after it happened, they immediately shut off the TV.
apr 20, 2025, 6:33 am • 11 0 • view
I saw it live. My teacher was one of the teachers who had tried for a shot at going up. He personally knew the teacher who died in the Challenger explosion. I know for me, it was really traumatic. I was in public school, no fancy private one. It wasn't just on satellite, it was on ordinary TV.
apr 20, 2025, 6:00 am • 7 0 • view
Why are you lying about this? It was played all across the US in schools. Live. What do you gain from lying about this? Such a weird flex.
apr 24, 2025, 12:41 pm • 0 0 • view
You're just wrong. NASA arranged a satellite broadcast of the full mission into television sets in many, many PUBLIC schools. This was because many schools were using the First Teacher in Space as an opportunity to give lessons about science, space, etc. My entire school system watched.
apr 20, 2025, 9:32 pm • 7 0 • view
I went to a small public school in South/Eastern Kentucky and we absolutely watched it. It's not some false memory. Sorry, your post is mistaken on all counts.
apr 21, 2025, 2:31 am • 2 0 • view
I watched it at home on C-SPAN. It's one of my earliest clear memories and shaped my early career. I grew up in a rural community unconnected with NASA and kids talked about it for years afterwards. Suggesting this is a false memory because you didn't have the experience is perhaps an overstep.
apr 20, 2025, 10:15 am • 2 0 • view
Ok so you were an outlier. You didn’t watch it in your school and then went back to class, as the original poster said.
apr 20, 2025, 1:22 pm • 0 0 • view
I was 4. That's why I wasn't in school. Again, my family and friends watched it in class. I'm really not sure what your point is here.
apr 20, 2025, 2:39 pm • 1 0 • view
What exactly is your goal in telling us we don't have the memories we all have from that era? Because some right-wing bitch on Twitter said GenX was tough? It happened. Public schools were eager to show us because it was a teacher going into space. As I said, my poor ass went to public school.
apr 20, 2025, 1:27 pm • 3 0 • view
www.edweek.org/leadership/t... "Some 2.5-million students nationwide were viewing Challenger’s takeoff via satellite dishes hooked up to their schools. Others were watching the live broadcast on cable." I was in kindergarten in a public school. I saw it live, though I was too young to understand.
apr 20, 2025, 1:57 pm • 5 0 • view
I was in kindergarten. They wheeled in the TV to show us. When it exploded, I was too young to understand what had happened. I went to a public school. Don't try to gaslight my old ass.
apr 20, 2025, 1:22 pm • 5 0 • view
Same here. I absolutely remember the teacher crying, and us asking questions.
apr 20, 2025, 8:20 pm • 1 0 • view
Yep. It's not necessarily just expensive schools, because NASA did have a program where they provided schools with satellite kits to show the launch. But obviously that was still quite limited and the vast, vast majority did not see the launch live.
apr 20, 2025, 2:51 am • 10 0 • view
That is not true.
apr 21, 2025, 12:23 am • 0 0 • view
Yes! I’m a millennial and we had TVs in every classroom provided by Channel One. I saw 9/11 happen on one of those 🙃
apr 20, 2025, 3:36 am • 2 0 • view
www.edweek.org/leadership/t... 2.5 million kids.
apr 20, 2025, 6:13 am • 1 0 • view
Out of 52 million school-aged kids at the time. Absolutely some kids saw it but it was less than 5% of the student population
apr 20, 2025, 6:57 am • 0 0 • view
You're literally making shit up
apr 24, 2025, 12:43 pm • 0 0 • view
You should take a look at this: "Children’s Symptoms in the Wake of Challenger: A Field Study of Distant-Traumatic Effects and an Outline of Related Conditions" psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...
apr 20, 2025, 10:13 am • 0 0 • view
This was a study of 146 children. Some of that group watched at Cape Canaveral. This is not the gotcha you think it is.
apr 20, 2025, 1:21 pm • 0 0 • view
I didn't say it was a gotcha. I think it's an interesting study. However, you might want to quit trauma gatekeeping and telling people they didn't witness something they absolutely did.
apr 20, 2025, 2:40 pm • 3 0 • view
Fucking A.
apr 20, 2025, 3:38 pm • 1 0 • view