28/365 Remembering Christa

28/365 Remembering Christa, originally uploaded by agearrings.

I remember exactly what I was doing when the Challenger exploded. While watching the lift off with the young students in my class I stared at disbelief as I watched the vapor trails stream away from the spacecraft. I remember asking the other adults in the room if they had ever seen that before and simultaneously realizing that something was terribly wrong. What was supposed to be a celebration for NH educators and NH students became a tragedy that we processed together over time. At the time, my two young children and I struggled to understand what and why this happened. Even now, my eyes fill with tears, recalling vividly those days and weeks after the accident.

In the photo is the newspaper insert that the Concord Monitor printed to prepare NH students for Christa's trip. The book, written in 1993 by Christa's mother, Grace Corrigan, begins with the Challenger disaster, then looks back at her life and achievements leading up to her selection as First Teacher in Space.