STS-51L

January 28th, 1986. I was 8 years old and in Mrs. Monahan's second grade class. For as long as I could read - which is as long as I can remember - I'd been fascinated by the stars and the space program. I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up (I even had a distant uncle who worked for NASA in the 1960s). This was still at a time when being an astronaut was something really to aspire to.

We were watching that day, as I suspect many of you were, too, in our classroom. It was the first time a civilian had gone into space. An elementary school teacher.

I'd watched a lot of shuttle launches as a kid. They were among my very favorite things. I read voraciously anything I could get my hands about space.This one seemed special, different. There was someone who represented the "everyday person" on board.

I remember watching the takeoff like so many before. Then, 73 seconds into its mission, there was a ball of, well, it wasn't fire - at first. At first it looked like a cloud. Then the solid rocket boosters continued flying on and crossed each other in midair. I think I knew immediately what had happened. It made me sick. Like, for real sick and I remember having to go home.

It's hard to believe it's been 25 years but this was the first "Where were you when?" moment of my life.

Gregory Jarvis
Christa McAuliffe
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Judith Resnik
Dick Scobee

Michael J Smith