Dying Man Shares Previously Unseen Challenger Video

NYCAviation:

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Dying Man Shares Previously Unseen Amateur Video of Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster



Video cameras were not the ubiquitous devices in 1986 that they are today, so the only video footage of the Space Shuttle Challenger most of us have seen are the live network broadcasts captured by the lenses of CBS and CNN.

Optometrist Dr. Jack Moss, however, was playing with his new Betamax camcorder that chilly January morning, and recorded the sad event from his front yard in Winter Haven, Florida, about 70 miles southwest of Cape Canaveral. [Full Article]

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One of those, "I remember exactly where I was" moments.


Being from New Hampshire (about 30 min from Concord, where Christa McAuliffe was from) we were following the shuttle launch very closely.

I have a unique where I was story. I had heard about it while getting my shoes shined in LGA, just prior to my Piedmont flight down to Miami. Back then PI operated some unique routes. I boarded a 737-200 to ORF which was a large PI station back then, connecting to a PI 727-200 which operated EWR-ORF-JAX-MIA. On the JAX-MIA sector we passed just to the East of the Cape, like in the video it was a sunny, clear day. Looking down on the Cape only about 5 hours after the explosion was an erie experiance I will never forget. Needless to say my visit to MIA was very subdued as I spent most of it watching TV news coverage at my friends who I was visiting. With the exception of 9-11 and the assination of President Kennedy, I can't remember many other times where I remember our great nation being in such a HUGE state of morning.

May the crew of Challenger R.I.P.

LGA777

I was at school and they were going to let us watch the launch and then they said they had issues getting the tv. I bout flipped out on the teacher. They got a tv and we watched it live... As soon as it happened I said it blew up and all were dead...the teacher corrected me and said that the shuttle crew probably ejected. I said that I would be happy if they did, but that shuttle does not have ANY ejection seats....there dead!

I was watching the Columbia live too and realized when watching it breakup what was happening... very sad days

You can tell it was a freezing morning in Central Florida that day. The white stuff at 3:20 is something covering a small tropical plant from freezing temps.

I was a kid but remember seeing it the news that day and a feeling hard to describe. For the Columbia disaster in 2003 I was coming back from an early bird spotting "mission" at KMIA when I heard it on the radio. Very strange/sad feeling hearing the news. Another clear, sunny morning too.

Was there a sonic boom heard for Columbia on re-entry or did it break up before the sound happened?

I was still a good 3 months from even being a twinkle in my fathers thoughts when Challenger blew up. I cannot fathom it even to this day. When Columbia broke apart I was on a crucible in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica off campus from my boarding school. I didnt find out about the disaster till nearly three weeks after it happened and even then it was nearly another year and a half before I was in a location where I was at liberty to obtain any information on the disaster. My knowladge to this day is still basic at best on the accident.

On topic, that video is going to fetch a mint.

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Originally Posted by hiss srq

On topic, that video is going to fetch a mint.

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It would have been at the time, which makes it more amazing that he never shared it with anyone. Today it's worth zippo...the place he donated it to released it into public domain...no one owns it anymore.

I was home from school that day. I watched it live and called my mom in to ask her what had happened. Very sad. :(