(MAB: Anyone who knows me knows what I will always remember about this day...)

CHALLENGER EXPLODES:
January 28, 1986

At 11:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S. civilian to travel into space. McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger. She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger's launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa's family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle exploded in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. There were no survivors.

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In Memoriam: Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe

For more information on the lives of the crew: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Biographies/challenger.html

As expected, my note about today being the 19th anniversary of the Challenger tragedy prompted a few personal replies, including people's stories of where they were when they heard the news.

For my generation, this is our equivalent of the JFK assassination or the 9/11 attacks.

My own story is as follows. I was in 11th grade at the time at Hunter College High School. One of our school's Chemistry teachers, Francine Salzman, had applied for the Teacher-in-Space program but not been accepted. So we were all keenly aware of the meaning of the launch.

The school's lunch period took place from 11:10 AM to 12noon, if I remember correctly, and after eating lunch I went to hang out in the school library with friends. I know that a lot of people's stories include watching the launch live on television; for some reason, our school hadn't bothered to set anything like that up for us. So we weren't watching.

But we got the news, and this part I will never forget. I was sitting in the front area of the library when my friend Christina Sormani walked in and asked if I had heard the news about the shuttle. I said no, and she told me that it had blown up during the launch. I protested that she was kidding, and she assured me that she wasn't.

I realized she was serious and I started to cry. I cried so much that Tina thought I personally knew one of the astronauts. I didn't, of course; at the time, like all of us, the only one I could actually name was McAuliffe. But I was crying for them nevertheless, and for the dashed hopes and dreams of an entire human race that yearns to go to the stars. I knew that this would cause a major setback in our space program; and I could only hope that it wouldn't crush it entirely.

That afternoon, when we got home, there was an ironic coda. My father had been applying to the Journalist-in-Space program, and on that very day we received the postcard from NASA indicating that all his applications materials were in.

Tags: history, personal, space

On Monday morning, gnomi noticed that meteorologist Pete Bouchard of WHDH-TV (channel 7; our local NBC affiliate) had presented a chart showing the top ten recorded snowstorms in Boston. Knowing my love of such statistics, Nomi made sure to copy down the chart. I was disappointed that the chart listing for the two tied storms at number 10 only gave the year of those storms, and not the day, so I emailed Mr. Bouchard using the WHDH webpage, and he kindly gave me the information requested.

So, for those who are as interested in this sort of pedantry as I am, here's the list of storms; if there is only one day listed, it's possible that the storm lasted into the next day, but I don't have all that information. Note that the Blizzard of 2005 is at number 5, the tie is at number 10, and the list includes number 11. Also, I don't know where the December 2003 storm falls on the list; it might be at number 12, but it might be lower. However, since I personally experienced it, I wanted to include it.

1. February 17-18, 2003 (Mon-Tues)
27.5 inches

2. February 6, 1978 (The famous Blizzard of 1978)
27.1 inches

3. February 24, 1969
26.3 inches

4. March 31, 1997
25.4 inches

5. January 22-23, 2005 (Sun-Mon)
22.5 inches

6. January 20, 1978 (The forgotten 1978 snowfall that predated the Blizzard)
21.4 inches

7. March 3, 1960
19.8 inches

8. February 16, 1958
19.4 inches

9. February 8, 1994 (The Perfect Storm)
18.7 inches

10. (tie) January 7-8, 1996 & December 20-22, 1975
18.2 inches

11. February 5, 1920
17.3 inches

?. December 7, 2003
17 inches

Tags: history

The deadline for voting in the Analog readers' awards for 2004, also known as the Analytical Laboratory Awards, is fast approaching -- in fact, it's next Tuesday, February 1. If you haven't voted yet, you might want to pop on over to the ballot webpage at http://www.analogsf.com/analogreaders_2004.shtml and cast your vote. Remember, everyone who votes gets entered in a free drawing for a one-year subscription to Analog.

Tags: science-fiction, writing