Bruins remember Challenger tragedy

Tori Youngblood learned of the fate of the Columbia when she
logged online to check her e-mail Saturday.

Reacting with “horror, absolute horror,” all she
said she could think about was the the last fatal NASA disaster in
1986.

News of the Columbia had Youngblood and many others harkening
back to memories of the Challenger, which exploded shortly after
takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986.

The Challenger was NASA’s second-oldest orbiter, and would
have carried the first teacher into space. Columbia was
NASA’s first orbiter, built in 1981 and flown 28 times.

Youngblood, a 1989 alumna who was visiting the UCLA campus
Sunday, was an undergraduate in a Psychology 15 class when she
found out the Challenger had exploded.

“A student shouted out, “˜Hey, the Challenger blew
up!'” she said.

“It was disbelief. I never would have imagined something
like that could happen again.”

Even those who were younger said their memories of the earlier
tragedy are indelible.

“All I could think about was what happened to the
Challenger,” said Lauren Friedman, a fifth-year electrical
engineering student.

“It is one of only two things I remember about
kindergarten ““ that and my mom being pregnant with my
brother. I remember we were doing a space shuttle study because
everyone was excited about the teacher being on board.”

Tyler Scott, a 1996 UCLA graduate in mass communications, was a
junior high school student in 1986.

“I was in sixth grade. I was walking to Mr. Davis’
science class when someone said the Challenger exploded. For the
rest of the day in all of our classes, we just talked about
it,” he said.

But Saturday, working a day-long shift at a restaurant in
Pacific Palisades, he said he didn’t hear the news until
later that evening.

“No one mentioned it, I didn’t hear any customers
talking about it,” he said. “I think that’s
crazy.”

He attributed this to geography.

“It’s too close to Hollywood ““ it
doesn’t really affect what’s going on in the
entertainment industry,” he said. “That’s pretty
unfair, but whatever. I worked from 9 until 4, and didn’t
hear a word about it.”

Those who can remember said the Challenger was unique, that the
entire country seemed to watch the launch on television. By
contrast, art history graduate student Caroline Stuart said
“hardly anybody even knew (Columbia) was going up.”

“I think the Challenger was a bigger shock because I knew
a lot of people were watching it on TV at the time,” said Tim
Wang, a first-year business administration graduate student who was
in eighth grade when the shuttle went down.

“However, … (the Columbia) has galvanized the country.
This is a common grief that all Americans share and it teaches us
not to worry about day-to-day things.”

With reports from Betsy Popken, Daily Bruin Contributor, and Amy
Frye, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.