30th Anniversary Of Challenger Explosion, Where Were You?

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. Where were you when it happened?

I remember the events of the Challenger explosion in 1986 like I do 9/11 and older people remember the JFK assassination.

It was something I will never forget, 4th grade in Chicago at a private Catholic school.

My teacher wheeled in the TV, strapped to a two-tiered cart with two sets of bungie cords run across the top so it wouldn't topple over and kill someone or get stolen.

Teachers across the country were super excited for this particular space mission but the biggest reason was that one of their own, Christa McAuliffe, a social studies teacher from New Hampshire was going up with the rest of the crew.

Watching TV in 1986 during school hours wasn't something that happened on regular basis either. We didn't watch coverage of the Bears parade after winning the Super Bowl a few days before so this was an extreme privilege to stop school to watch the Challenger get launched into space.

Then it happened. The Challenger blew up, right on TV, right in front of the entire world, killing McAullife and 6 other crew members.

Watching that happen as a nine-year-old was surreal, my teachers were crying and students were stunned. The feeling of "that wasn't supposed to happen" was something that I couldn't shake that day.

30 years after the Challenger explosion I'm reminded of the Christa McAullife penny statue that kids across the country collected and donated in order for it to get made.

Those moments and aftermath of the Challenger disaster is something I will never forget, where were you when it happened?