AMEN.
Hard to believe it's been 20 years. I can remember sitting in my desk in 2nd grade watching the replay over and over and over, and then went home and watched it all night.
I must have got my fill because to this day I can't watch it. I turn away when they show it on TV. But I can still see it vividly in my mind.
God bless the Challenger 7, Columbia 7 and the Apollo I 3. This has to be NASA's worst week.
AMEN.
They made us lock down the log and wideband computer tapes. The control room was sealed off and "playbacks" were forbidden except for investigation purposes.
I was in the 2nd grade too. It is one of those moments you never forget.
So can I.
I was driving across the Sunshine Skyway in FL when it happened. I was trying to see the launch, which is usually visible from the Skyway if the weather is clear, when I suddenly saw the burst of white smoke from the explosion and then a forked trail of smoke forming in the bright blue sky over 100 miles away.
I knew instantly that something awful had happened to the shuttle, and I quickly tuned the radio to a Tampa news station and heard the tragic news being reported from the cape.
I guess that's one of those things that will always stick in a person's mind.