Challenger

I remember that cold morning in CT. I wanted to watch it, but the family wanted to the hit store (Bradleys, if I recall correctly). We came back to my aunts house, turned on the TV, and there was the explosion being replayed.

I was only 9.5 years old. I dont remember feeling bad about it, though I knew it was obviously tragic. My Dad used to wake me up for those 6am launches every once in a while. So I liked watching the shuttle take off. I knew nothing about it though. But I remember what followed after Challenger.

So I wrote to NASA asking for information. What I got back was an inch thick packet, for free, detailing everything there was to know about the shuttle (in laymens terms, complete with diagrams, and unclassified of course). I wrote reports with that literature. I even wrote after that to get information regarding the SRB O-ring failure, I think.

So, that was my hook to get started in science.

I am not sure if NASA ever truly recovered after that disaster. It took 33 months or so for the next shuttle to launch. An eternity in kid time. But I remembered it was well advertised.
It took a while but I got down tothe Cape to see a shuttle launch. Still cant find that videotape. That would be awesome to show the family. I think I saw it go up in 1992.