CHALLENGER EXPLODES!

There are few people who cannot remember watching the Challenger explode on jan 1986. The nation watched as school teacher Christa McAuliffe and six others boarded the shuttle smiling and waving. We were capitivated by the idea of a regular person going up into space, it was a dream we all had. In schools classes gathered together in front of televisions. My memories are different from most because I missed school that day to go to a funeral. I was with my family and relatives that I hadn't seen in years sitting in the backyard of my grandfather's old house. My uncle slowly opened the screen door that made such a terrific noise and told us that the Challenger had exploded. We all went inside and stared at small black and white tv in disbelief. Pieces of debris splashed down on the ocean. The families of the crew wept. Krista McAuliffe's class watched silently.

For our generation the Challenger Explosion was the first time we realized the dangers of space travel. It was the first time we witnessed such an unexpected tragic event firsthand. Many of our dreams of becoming astronauts were invaded with the possibility of death. We also learned how to deal with that tragedy as tasteless adolescents. Challenger jokes were disseminated through the usual channels, during lunch and physical education. Schools observed a moment of silence the following day in rememberance of the crew. We stood quietly not sure of what we should be thinking or doing. The images of the ocean splashed with debris played in my head. The kid next to me decided to give an audio homage to the disaster by making the loudest Death Star explosion sound he could muster from his mouth. After the disaster most of us were not as fascinated with the space program as we had been before. Reality became more important than dreams. Dreams were just dreams now.

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