Where were you when Challenger exploded 23 years ago?

Remembering back to January 28, 1986 was a very cold day. I had missed the explosion. I heard about the news when my mom called to tell me about the accident. I flipped on the television and spent the day in disbelief. I was kind of a follower of who the astronauts were at this time. I was a small fan of Dr. Judy Resnik because she followed in Dr. Sally Ride's footsteps with other missions on the space shuttle. I couldn't believe she was one of the seven astronauts destroyed in the explosion. Sharon Christa McCauliffe who was the first teacher in space. How could this happen to her? She was the mother of a young girl and boy at the time. I figure they must be in their early thirties by now and maybe married. Christa's husband remarried a teacher. Christa's parents may not even be living now. This may be the same way regarding Gregory Jarvis. His parents were so active after the accident in getting learning centers for kids started and handing out fliers to thank people who remembered their son. They may not be alive. Dick Scobee who was the commander of the Challenger. His wife remarried and is still active in the Challenger learning center for kids. I am kind of in disbelief from what I saw from a simple hard hat. I was looking up stuff relating to the Challenger on the internet when I ran across someone who claimed to be close to the crew of the Challenger seven astronauts. This person was selling the hard hat which the commander Dick Scobee wore around NASA when training for his shuttle flight. This person was asking 3, 500 dollars for a piece of history. I could see the emptiness under the hard hat sitting on display. It looked like it was waiting for Scobee to return. This is just an object, but the memories connected shouldn't even have a price tag. If this person really wanted to honor the memory of the astronauts, the hard hat would have been donated to a museum so people can reflect back on a time which needed to bring about change in the way launches are conducted. Who out in the general public would even think about an O-ring much less understand what the purpose was in holding the shuttle together? How important the cold weather played on the expansion and the breakage of the O-ring. How NASA managers can cloud good judgement when rushing to launch a shuttle when the conditions weren't right. My former lunch buddy said she cried for the fallen astronauts. She along with many others felt a closeness to the loss. I moved on except around this time of year when I hold a small remembrance for peoples dreams with the First Teacher in Space. It was suppose to be a grand event. The teacher was replaced by the first runner up many years later. Barbara McNair was the First Instructor in space who moved beyond her class of children many years ago. I didn't even get to see her instructing students on what she did at all. It was like they rushed her into space at the last minute. She also turned very ill when the shuttle landed. She wasn't use to the flight. I hope the families of the remaining astronaunts are living full lives. The Columbia tragedy followed many years later with a whole new set of problems to work out. The shuttle program is going to be retired in 2010 and be replaced in five years by a capsule program called "The Orion." The shutttle holds a lot of memories in the space program. I hope the new ones created by "The Orion" are pleasant successes and not horrible failures.