This is one of those moments you will never forget. One of those "I remember what I was doing when this happened" kind of moments. I remember being so excited because teacher Christa McAuliffe was going into space as the first space teacher. I was 10 years old and this was a huge topic of conversation for us while I was in class in elementary school.
And then just 73 seconds after liftoff, the Challenger exploded for all the world to see and claimed the lives of 7 astronauts, including Christa. Tragic day in America and in the space industry. And I remember seeing this on the television, now an infamous photo all over the web.
(Photos courtesy of solcomhouse.com)
This was so traumatic!!! I remember being at home with Christopher and watching this at home in shocking unbelief. I was thinking that Rachelle was at school watching this and wondering how the teachers were handling this at school with our young kids. I worried that they would be traumatized. As a recall, they handled it well and Rachelle came home telling me what happened matter of factly. She was probably too young to realize the enormity of it all. This event like others similar to this always hang with me for a long time. "Funny" story: My parents managed an apartment complex at the time of the disaster and used a concentrated cleaning solution to clean apartments called "Challenger". They would give me some of this for my personal use and I put it in a spray bottle with its name hand written on it. Everytime that I would use the bottle, see the name, hear my parents use the name, the feelings would well up in me. I still use that cleaner today but I had to change it's name to "Challenge" cleaner. :P
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