Earth as seen from the final mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia on January 26th, 2003.
On this day in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart moments after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
It was one of those days about which you can say “of course I remember where I was.” Like the day President Kennedy was shot (or Bobby) or 9/11 or the day of the virginia Tech Massacre.
Some events in life are so powerful, so horrific that we are almost always able to recall what we were thinking, what we were feeling when we heard the news.
I was between jobs. Not long after I’d be moving to Washington, DC to start a new career. But on the morning the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded just moments after takeoff, I was watching television and the news broke in.
Like most of the rest of the country, I stayed glued to the television for the rest of the day.
Like most of the rest of the country, I was comforted by the words of our President.
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