Challenger

It's hard to believe that it was 25 years ago that the space shuttle Challenger blew up 73 seconds into it's flight. Photo courtesy of westga.edu
Photo courtesy of mahal.org

Photo courtesy of arlingtoncemetery.net

There are only a few events in my lifetime that I can remember clearly where I was and what I was doing when I heard about them. The Challenger disaster was one of them. I was working at the corporate offices of a woman's clothing store called "Woman's World." I was working on my weekly reports when my phone rang and it was my Mom on the line. She told me what happened. At that time we weren't allowed to have radios on our desks and we didn't have computers, so there was no way to know what was going on outside of our offices. I walked up to my friends and carpool partner's desk, almost in a daze, and told her what had happened. She thought I was joking, and told me it wasn't funny. I told her I was serious, and that I needed the keys to her car - I wanted to go and sit in the parking lot and listen to the news. Word spread around the office like wildfire and we all went out to our cars and listened in disbelief. I remember feeling incredibly sad for the families of the astronauts, and all of the people that had been on had to watch the launch. What a heartbreaking event to witness.

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?