Mister Pterodactyl
Monday, January 28, 2008
 
Today Instapundit linked to Simberg's post on the Challenger anniversary.

I hadn't realized that happened on this day, but I remember the day itself very well. January, 1987. Lance and I were high school seniors. Dad told us he would give us a ride to school so we could linger at home and watch the launch on TV. Sadly, the launch was delayed, so off to school we went.

I didn't even think of it the rest of the day, until around 1 pm. Seventh period, sociology class (yeah, take a second to deal with the concept of high school sociology). Mister Simmons. He was a short, rotund, light-skinned black man who I remember because of this story, and because he didn't object when I referred to the classroom's new paint job as 'two shades of bird shit.' Good guy.

Anyway, I'm sitting there waiting for class to start and Mr. Simmons is chatting with another student. And just by chance I overheard him saying 'he said it exploded and I'm like, yeah whatever...' And that's how I found out.

They say that for our parents' generation the question is 'where were you when Kennedy got shot?' That that's the one thing everybody remembers. For a while, Challenger was ours. Where were you when you found out? Almost sixteen years later, ahem, something else happened. I remember that day pretty well too.


Comments:
Dr. Sanity was the flight surgeon for that mission. She posted her memories of meeting President Reagan during the memorial service for the astronauts.
 
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