It's always the question - do you remember where you were when it happened?
I can't remember what city I was in, but I do remember being in a hotel with my husband. We had been arguing over something until CNN caught our eye. The news station was showing clips of debris flying through the air that looked like comets. Of course the story harkened back to the Challenger explosion of 1986, not only in incident but also in timing: Challenger was lost on January 28th, nearly 17 years before. So ominous.
Wayne Hale worked for NASA for 32 years. He's been the Space Shuttle Program Manager, Space Shuttle Program Deputy and Space Shuttle Flight Director. He was involved in Columbia's mission and was waiting on the ground at the Kennedy Space Center with many other VIPs when the shuttle disintegrated. He wrote a blog while working at NASA, but has since started his own that is unaffiliated. His new series, called Ten Years Later, is quite moving and full of personal details concerning this fateful mission and the lessons we all have learned from it.
I highly recommend reading it: http://waynehale.wordpress.com/
It was my dream to work for NASA as a child. I saw the Challenger explode when I was in second grade. My teachers had rolled in a TV to show us the live launch because they thought it was going to be amazing. These moments have stuck with me since then and I'll take a moment tomorrow to remember the seven astronauts who did not come home.
