I was in 2nd grade and I’ll never forget the build up to the launch here in America. We spent a week in Science class discussing the mission, reading weekly readers about it, and even watching a vhs video about the shuttle. We learned the biography of each astronaut because this mission was being heavily promoted to children my age. A civilian teacher, Christa McAuliffe had been selected as a way to encourage an interest in science for my generation.

On the day of the launch we all were dismissed to the library to watch it on a TV that was sitting on a rolling cart. It was so unseasonably cold that day in the US Southeast that our library was freezing and uncomfortable. I can remember shivering even though I was wearing my jacket.

We watched the countdown and launch, but when the tradgedy occurred, nobody in the room grasped what had just happened. Then the announcer said something to the effect of ‘Oh my God, something has gone terribly wrong!’.

That prompted a teacher to run to the TV but she could not figure out how to turn it off so she tried to block it with her body and told us all to turn around and go back to our classrooms.

Towards the end of the day, our Principal spoke over the intercom and told us that the Challenger was considered lost and all astronauts were presumed dead. He told us that it was a National tragedy and explained what that meant. He also told us that it was like the Kennedy assassination that he experienced when he was our age. He told us to pray for the Astronaut’s families and to watch the Presidential Address that evening.

Soon after, we spent our science class writing notes and cards to the families of the astronauts, many of us were trying to hold back our own tears while we wrote these notes and drew pictures on the cards. We were not allowed to draw coffins, dead bodies, or skeletal remains and if we drew a flag it had to be upright and waving.

Edit: To this very day, I avoid all articles and documentaries about the Challenger.