In this day and age, sadly, I'm not sure the impact of an event like a space shuttle blowing up, would get the kind of media attention it did back 30+ years ago. In a world where we have instantaneous access to all sorts of information, things don't seem nearly as impacting as they did when I was a kid.

There were no smartphones... In fact, most cell phones were in a bag that you really only used in your car. There was no internet like we know it today. It was just a special news report that would pre-empt all TV programming. When you saw that announcement come on the TV, you knew something pretty serious was going down.

Now when the Challeneger exploded, I was a 6th grader in Hampden. We had music class, and when the teacher came in he started talking about the event like we all knew what was happening. Our regular teacher was a bit clueless, and never mentioned it to us.

So instead of music class that day, Mr. Henry brought a TV into the room, and turned it on to get us up to speed. In fact, I'm pretty sure we got sent home early that day. I watched the footage over and over and over when I got home from school. It bothered me quite a bit, knowing that every time I saw the shuttle explode on the screen, there were people paying the ultimate sacrifice.

Now all these years later, I was wondering if some of you guys remembered where you were and what you were doing. Usually when tragedies strike, we all remember the exact details of what we were doing, no matter how small they seem in retrospect. I put the question to Facebook, and thought I'd share a few of the responses. You may be able to relate quite easily.

As you can see, a lot of us have had similar experiences, in the same way we all remember where we were and what we were doing on 9/11. Experiences like that kind of burn themselves into your memories.

All these years later, it'd be great to take a moment and remember these brave folks who died not only in service to their country, but the whole world. It wasn't just a loss for the U.S., but for the whole planet. So let's give a thought to their families, friends, and fellow space explorers. It was a sad day for all of us.

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