From MyWay News:
Challenger Crew Families Mark Anniversary
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The widow of Challenger’s commander laid a wreath of roses and carnations at a memorial honoring fallen astronauts Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the day the space shuttle lifted off from a launch pad a few miles away and blew apart 73 seconds later.
June Scobee Rodgers, whose husband Dick Scobee was the shuttle’s commander, recalled waiting for the launch that chilly morning with other family members of the crew, including 12 children.
“Our lives were shattered, but over the years that followed the families persevered with tremendous success,” Rodgers said. “I believe those parents launched aboard Challenger would be proud of their children.”
Seven astronauts died in the explosion, and the images of the shuttle bursting apart were replayed over and over to a shocked nation.
Can you believe it has been 20 years? Where were you when it happened?
I was in college, at an early morning class. We were expecting snow so I had a small radio with me and a headset. I went to the professor and handed him the headset, shocked.
I was in my living room, on my own in the evening, 11 years old, jumping up and down on the sofa cushions with the TV on in the background. I remember the news coming on and thinking, “This is very solemn. I have to sit here quietly; it isn’t right to jump around.”
You shouldn’t have been jumping on the sofa to begin with.
You were only 11?? God I feel old.