40 years ago it was cold and snowy in Longmont, Colorado. I was in 5th grade and my teacher had dragged in the AV cart to watch a very special space shuttle launch.

The fact that there was a launch to watch was exciting. I don’t care how old you are.

Compounding that was the excitement that a teacher was on board. Why, our own teacher could go into space. Normal people could launch into space.

The idea was captivating.

I remember us kids being rapt as the count down boomed out of the small speakers.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

liftoff

While the numbers were counting down the rockets were igniting and you could see flames at the bottom of the 2 stage rocket boosters. This was going to give them the impetus to launch the rocket and start them on their journey.

After the countdown we watched the space shuttle lift away from earth.

I am not sure if anyone was breathing. We certainly weren’t talking.

Just over a minute later there was an explosion and smoke and flames engulfed the now falling space shuttle. And something flying away from the main explosion.

In the classroom it was completely silent.

None of us knew or intellectualized that we had just seen a space tragedy.

My teacher pulled the plug on the AV cart.

And we sat in silence.

For most of us this was the first time we had seen a tragedy on television. And we didn’t know what to think.

To the best of my recollection the day went on as if a tragedy hadn’t happened in front of us. We filed into lunch and spent the afternoon learning. I can’t remember what we were learning. I can’t imagine what it cost our teacher to keep teaching that day.

This was the 1980s so there probably wasn’t a lot of after tragedy care for the students and the teachers. We might’ve had awkward conversations with our families at dinner. I don’t remember.