Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking. Login or Take a Tour!
I too was watching one of those TV's on wheels. I was in second grade. My school had really promoted the launch to all of us kids. In advance of it we were all assigned to make a drawing of the Challenger and we got to vote on whose was the best. We also participated in the Young Astronauts Club and had a countdown to the launch date.
We watched it in our school library live. I don't recall much other than it being an emotionally charged moment. I recall a school mate telling me that NASA now stood for "need another seven astronauts" and thinking to myself even at that young age that, "that is just wrong and in bad taste".