Remembering the Challenger Disaster

25 years ago today students across America sat in anticipation of a NASA space shuttle launch. A special broadcast feed had even been set up to stream the event live on televisions in schools across the nation. It was an exciting time. We had studied the space program for weeks, and learned about the crew members and what they'd be doing during their time in space. You would've thought they were heading off to discover a new galaxy or something. And yet it wasn't their mission, so much as one of their crew members that garnered the heightened attention. Christa McCauliff, one of the seven, was to be the first school teacher in space.

Launch day came on a Tuesday morning, and I was sitting at home because of a snow day, but all thoughts were on the approaching shuttle launch. I sat in the den, on the floor, with my eyes glued to the television. The countdown began. The first teacher was going up in space. Christa McCauliff's students were even watching from the bleachers at the Kennedy Space Center.

73 seconds into the flight, tragedy struck. It looked like an explosion. Pieces of the shuttle broke apart. Smoke billowed out from all sides. Something was terribly wrong. The shuttle plummeted to the sea in pieces. America watched in horror. There would be no survivors.

Whenever I hear that it's the anniversary of the Challenger disaster, I'm immediately brought back to that day-- to the excitement that led up to that morning's launch, and to the shock of how the day played out.

It was the first big news event that I can remember, and the first time I felt like I had witnessed something that would forever be a part of history.

In case you've never heard of it, please take a few minutes to read up on the event, and then check out the videos below.