Challenger Anniversary
20 years ago, I was in high school. Just after lunch, someone made a joke about wanting to send our English teacher up in the next space shuttle. I laughed. I didn't know.
For some reason I had driven to school that day (usually I took the bus). I drove home and ran into the house, at this point having some idea that something bad had happened, but I wasn't quite sure on the details. I turned on the TV and immediately saw what had happened.
I didn't know what to do. I do remember sitting on my mother's bed, watching her black and white TV and saying "Oh my God" over and over and over. I remember seeing the pictures of all of the astronauts, but mostly the news was concentrating on Christa McAuliffe. I remember seeing her mother's face. I remember thinking about all of the kids - the children of the astronauts, the children that were waiting for their teacher to talk to them from space.
I remember President Reagan's speech - especially the part about "touching the face of God." I remember being deeply saddened at the human loss. I wasn't overly concerned with the loss of a space shuttle. I was concerned about the astronauts and their families.
About 5 years ago, I got curious about what had really happened. How the astronauts died. I found this link: I found out lots of things, most important to me being that the astronauts didn't die immediately - they actually died when the crew cabin hit the ocean, 2 1/2 minutes after the shuttle broke apart.
Tonight I'll probably watch the CNN special about Christa McAuliffe and her family. I'll probably do some more surfing to find "where are they now" things about the families and how they've coped. It was a defining moment in my life.
For some reason I had driven to school that day (usually I took the bus). I drove home and ran into the house, at this point having some idea that something bad had happened, but I wasn't quite sure on the details. I turned on the TV and immediately saw what had happened.
I didn't know what to do. I do remember sitting on my mother's bed, watching her black and white TV and saying "Oh my God" over and over and over. I remember seeing the pictures of all of the astronauts, but mostly the news was concentrating on Christa McAuliffe. I remember seeing her mother's face. I remember thinking about all of the kids - the children of the astronauts, the children that were waiting for their teacher to talk to them from space.
I remember President Reagan's speech - especially the part about "touching the face of God." I remember being deeply saddened at the human loss. I wasn't overly concerned with the loss of a space shuttle. I was concerned about the astronauts and their families.
About 5 years ago, I got curious about what had really happened. How the astronauts died. I found this link: I found out lots of things, most important to me being that the astronauts didn't die immediately - they actually died when the crew cabin hit the ocean, 2 1/2 minutes after the shuttle broke apart.
Tonight I'll probably watch the CNN special about Christa McAuliffe and her family. I'll probably do some more surfing to find "where are they now" things about the families and how they've coped. It was a defining moment in my life.
posted by Blue Blankie at 4:25:00 PM
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