That seems so long ago, and in human terms it is. My kids were little more than babies, I wasn’t a paramedic yet, Ronald Reagan was President and NASA was exploring space. The world was a different place.

At 11:38 the space shuttle Challenger took off from a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Shuttle. On board was a crew of seven, Captain Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, and Christa McAuliffe. Shortly after lift off O rings that were designed to seal in fuel started to fail and 72 seconds into the flight the main fuel tank disintegrated and two components of the fuel system ignited rapidly causing the rest of the ship to disintegrate. The entire crew was killed either in the initial incident or within a few seconds afterward.

The destruction of the Challenger was one of those moments in which everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing. Because of TV many people witnessed the disaster as it unfolded. Although for many space flight had lost it’s wonder and become routine, the crash was a sharp reminder that space exploration is inherently dangerous.

It all seems like it happened just yesterday.