Thirty years ago today, I was an eighth grade student who was only days off of a Commendable Rating at the science fair. My project was on the Shuttle Transportation System (STS) program, and the Space Shuttle Challenger was the 25th STS mission, STS-51L.
Like many American children that day, I watched in school, as we did every Shuttle launch. This one was of particular interest to me because I had written many letters to NASA for my project and received volumes of materials. My parents couldn't believe stuffed envelope after stuffed envelope of information, pictures, brochures, and pamphlets that NASA sent an inquisitive junior high student.
I made a model of the Space Shuttle Challenger to display. I had poster boards full of pictures and graphics from the inside of the shuttle, as well as it's storage facility, and launch preparation sites. For me, personally, it truly was a day that stands out in what would become a decade full of them - the Miracle on Ice, the release of the Iran hostages, the day Reagan was shot, the Challenger, and the Berlin Wall coming down.
The mission was most notable at the time because one member of the crew was a school teacher from New Hampshire, Christa McAulliffe. All told, seven astronauts died that fateful day.
Lost in the disaster were Francis Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe and Michael Smith. It was the an iconic "where were you?" moment for America, if not the world.
Godspeed. crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger. You live among the stars.
