I remember watching the Challenger explode on live television. I was in third grade and had just returned from the cafeteria to go pick up my lunch. We were eating in our classrooms so that we could see the live shuttle launch. There was a lot of discussion about Christa McAuliffe getting to go into space. We were all stunned when it blew up – I had a hard time believing it wasn’t just a stunt of some sort.
After the accident, Richard Feynman wrote an appendix to the government report discussing the reasons for the crash. It is recommended reading for anyone who works in an engineering field, including software engineering. It’s short and to the point, and as is usually the case with Feynman’s stuff, it’s a great read.
We both the same age. I should also have been in 3rd. What a time it was 20 years ago and I did see it on the television, the burst. Those times, we just used to have single state-run television channel. Now I popup the television on and we have hundreds of channels. what a change