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The shuttle Columbia blew up today.
I also saw, with my own eyes, the Challenger explosion 17 years ago.
I was in junior high school, a fat, pimply-faced 14-year-old. Way back then, shuttle launches were still a novelty. People routinely stopped what they were doing, no matter where they were, to watch. In Florida, if the launch happened to be scheduled during school hours, many classrooms emptied to go outside.
Ours did. Although to some kids launches were an excuse to get out of class to socialize, I always looked forward to them. I was a science geek through and through, and they never got tiresome for me.
Our class -- I don't remember what subject it was, but I remember what the classroom looked like -- went outside and milled around the courtyard for a few minutes before it went up. The sky was a brilliant blue, and it was a beautiful, crisp, chilly day. Soon, I saw a thick smoke trail climbing into the sky. Standard stuff. Some kids chatted, never really paying attention. Most of us just wanted to go back inside because it was so cold. I watched in awe.
Then, high up in the sky, the smoke trail forked into a "Y" shape. I mentally noted that if that was the solid rocket booster separation, it was leaving a peculiarly thick smoke trail.
The yammering of the crowd slowly turned to whispers. Eventually, some of the stunned looks on the teachers' faces said that something was horribly wrong. I got a knot in my stomach. The Y-shaped smoke trail, getting thicker and thicker as it disspated, hovered in the sky. The teachers started to usher us back into our classrooms. Many of us knew what had happened, but we hoped we weren't right.
For the rest of the day, everyone in school watched TV. Some cried. The video played over and over. We tried to talk about what we saw, but no one could talk. We just watched.
* * *
The business I'm in is peculiar. When a disaster or tragedy happens, we must leave our loved ones instead of taking refuge with them.
I'm at work now. I'll be here late into the night and probably should consider bringing in a cot. And right now, I don't mind.
Replies: 1 shoutout
Wow. I had no idea you saw this in person. I remember watching it while in high school back in Birmingham. One of our teachers was a finalist in the Teacher in Space program, and she left in tears.
By the way, I moved again. Back to San Jose, CA, working at eBay. Hope all's well in O-Town.
Posted by Kenny Pate @ 02/09/2003 01:10 AM EST