"Twenty-five years ago, an event occurred that is seared into the memory of most Americans: About a minute after liftoff, the space shuttle Challenger blew apart, killing all aboard, including teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe. The day started off innocently enough. It was unusually cold in Florida that day, but NASA managers decided to attempt a launch anyway. As a subsequent investigation made clear, the cold temperature made O-rings, which were intended to contain hot gases, fail on the solid rocket boosters." - Derrick from Bookmarklet

Do you remember where you were? I was in the eighth grade and was walking in between classes to watch the launch on a TV rolled into class from the A/V room. One of our science teachers was a finalist and was in Florida watching it in person. - Derrick

I remember thinking 'this can't be good' when the tv cut to a news report about the shuttle launch. - Pete #TeamMonique

All three of our sixth grade classrooms were crammed into one to watch the launch live. - Kirsten

i was a senior in HS. my former Spanish class teacher was also a finalist and she was losing her shit. they never rolled in the TVs at our school. - Joe "Bad Guts" Silence

I do too. I was in 7th grade and our teachers had an inservice day - so we were home, both my older brothers and my younger brother (who was just 4 at the time). We'd hadn't paid attention to the launch, but then my grandmother called and told my mother about it and she turned on the television. I also remember, as a senior in high school, a student from the university came and had us fill out surveys that were designed to see what kids remembered about it. I wonder if that was just a paper or if it was a thesis/dissertation? Hmm. - ellbeecee

come to think of it, i was skipping classes that morning cos i'm pretty sure i saw it happen live on TV. i went in after lunch and everyone was (understandably) freaked out. - Joe "Bad Guts" Silence

I was a senior in college. Someone told me on an elevator between classes. I came home and glued myself to the little 13" TV in my room for the next day. - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

I was in college, working as a teaching assistant at a private school . The teacher brought a TV in and had the children watch and discuss. - #cryptic

I was in Germany. Just finished watching a movie on video, and AFN (Armed Forces Network) was showing the coverage from Peter Jennings of ABC News. It was already past 6PM for me, but I was just stunned. - Eric - seven eleven

I was in third grade (in Canada), and I think I heard about it on the news that night. I remember feeling sad, but not much else. - Marianne

I was in college, freshman year, I think. I was walking back to the dorm, and my roommate stopped me on the sidewalk and asked me if I had seen it. He said, "Dude, that m-f BLEW UP!" He was laughing. I wanted to punch him in the throat. - Ha3rvey #teamMonique

I was in grad school, in class (Advanced Dynamics, I think) when one of the TA's poked his head in at the end of class and said, "Challenger just blew up on launch" He was a known prankster so everybody ignore him initially. I walked around to the computer lab where I worked where a bunch of people were crowded around a TV. Everybody was just stunned. - MoTO #TeamMonique from Android

I was in 2nd grade and remember hearing about it. I also recall that prior to the explosion I think we were teasing a classmate, but I don't remember about what. I also remember in middle school finding copies of newsweek and other journals from that week after in the art classroom, and saving them. - Sir Shuping is just sir

My earliest memory of watching TV. - Julian

I was a senior in high school in the Netherlands (DoD school) - one of the other kids came running in with the news and then the principal confirmed it over the PA. The day was pretty much shot after that, as we all congregated where the radios were to listen to whatever coverage we could get from AFN. - Ruth Kneale

Strangely enough, it was through the investigation that I first heard of a brilliant physicist named Dr. Richard Feynman. http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Dan: Bibrarian

I was doing an internship in Toronto. That was an eventful semester: I also experienced my first earthquake. - DJF from Android

A friend of mine was in the area and went to watch it the day before, but it got rescheduled. (She got me a Challenger t-shirt.) The next day, she couldn't go to the launch, but she pulled the car over and watched it from the road. - Betsy #TeamMonique

I remember that oh so well. - VALZ/TEAM TRAVIS

I was in Elementary school and saw it live in class. - Rodfather

Seriously? That must have freaked a lot of kids out. - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

Yeah, I was watching it live, too. My folks had one of the big giant satellite dishes, so I think we had a more "raw" feed of it. The "Um, that doesn't look right" factor was much more obvious to us. It was awful. - Ordinarybug Heather

I was working as the lone sonographer in a hospital that had just placed tv's in the main waiting room. The entire imaging department was glued to that 13" tv. - Janet:#TeamMonique

10th grade. Our sick minds immediately started mentally nominating several of our teachers to be the second teacher in space. - Dave Roth

I still get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see this image. RIP brave souls! - Ken Gidley

Really interesting interview on Story Corps with brother of one of the astronauts on board, Ron McNair. Not a good image of librarians, though: http://www.npr.org/2011... - Anne Graham

Middle school social studies/English block. The principal came over the PA and made the announcement and one of my teachers started crying. Everyone else just sat there in stunned silence. - Elena