NASA has a very nice site dedicated to the 17 astronauts who died in American space missions. Click the picture above. It's been 25 years since Christa McAuliffe died on Challenger. I was a year out of college, doing my practice teaching at Londonderry (NH) Junior High School the day of the launch.
Here I was, a social studies teacher, like Christa. Everyone here was so excited after hearing that a NH teacher would be the first teacher in space. We all followed her training and were excited for her big day. There were kids and adults watching it live in the school library; I was getting my lunch and had just entered the teachers lounge to an eerie quiet. I don't know who said it but someone said "It blew up." I was absolutely stunned. I felt all my energy drain out of me. I made my way to the library where a TV was set up and watched the news coverage. Then I saw the replay. It was the most horrible thing I ever saw -- I felt that I knew Christa. We all did. All the hopes and dreams her mission symbolized were gone in a flash. Click this picture for the broadcast.
3 comments:
Wow... I've read about this event in the past and was interested to know what happened behind the scenes, but after watching President Reagan's address, I am absolutely speechless. It's sad to think of being but a mere spectator of he infamous event, but being a family member is more than devastating... The Challenger 7 will be forever remembered.
Its difficult to comment after staring speechlessly at this disaster. I have only heard of this tragedy before and until now never got the full story. I cannot imagine the emotions while watching live coverage of this. While watching the Reagan piece, manifest destiny kept surfacing in my thoughts. He calls the astronauts brave pioneers, this made me remember how dangerous western expansion could have been which made me realize how exponential the danger was when dealing with space... He really hit the nail on the head with this speech.
This just seems like one of those moments you can't put into words. Similar to 9/11 a momment you well always remember and think about where you were when in happpend. A true american tradgedy
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