January 28, 1986 (Score 2, Interesting)

I remember it pretty clearly, even though I was only five years old. I'm sure some of the memories have been tainted since I've seen so many documentaries and read some many articles. Still, I know some memories are still my own.

My father worked for Rockwell at the time; he was with the shuttle program from its inception. My mother had lived in Titusville, FL (where I was born) for several years, at least since the Moon program, so she'd grown up around the space program.

Even though I was so young, I can remember how proud my dad was to work on the shuttle and how proud I was of him.

I remember we could watch the launches from our house. I don't remember the entire time, but I remember the explosion...

We had the TV on and were going back and forth between them. When it happened, I remember looking at it and not comprehending what was going on. The TV channel, I think, was following a booster; to me, since I didn't understatnd what was happening, I somehow still thought it was the shuttle. The sky was getting darker, and I kept asking "Daddy, is it in space yet?".

My father was panicking, saying "No! It's shouldn't be doing that!". I don't remember my mother's reaction...

My mother did tell me that afterwards, the town was in shock. She said that the people looked dead... She said all she could think of was how she hoped my sister wouldn't be born that day; that she didn't want to happen to the child.

And it didn't. My little sister was born two days later. About a year later, we left Titusville since my father lost his job in the aftermath.

Those are my memories.