I was sitting in the library with my classmates watching the launch on television. We were excited by the prospect of a teacher, and ordinary person (astronauts were extrodinary) being launched into space. The media had been hyping the mission for weeks. We all watched in anticipation. Up it went and then it was gone.
I don't remember who I was sitting with that day. I don't remember what channel we were watching (this was before cable tv and internet). I do remember the on air reports hesitating to announce that the shuttle was gone and that those seven people were dead.
Almost 18 months later, on a class trip to Washington DC, we visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the memorial to those men and women.
In 2008, I visited Arlington again and the Challenger memorial had been joined by another, honoring the astronauts of the Columbia disaster in 2003.
Two similar events, (Challenger exploded shortly after take off. Columbia shortly before landing) seventeen years apart that really bookend the shuttle program in the United States. Thirty years ago the prosepct of going into space was exciting and captured the interest of people. Today, it probably never crosses my students' minds.
The Challenger disaster keeps coming back into my life. It' one of "those moments." Last summer while visiting the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama I found a wall of mission patches and pins for sale. I love label pins and I wanted one, but only one. I wanted the pin from that day in 1986. It took some searching, but I found it.
Rest in peace Challenger Crew. You are not forgotten.
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