11:39am EST on January 28, 1986

Space Shuttle Discovery is to blast off from Kennedy Space Center at 3:51pm today. It will be the second time Discovery has been the first shuttle to fly after a tragedy.

In 1986 I was in 8th grade. Our lunch consisted of two halves: half the class ate while the other half played ping-pong, board or card games, shot hoops in the gym or talked with your friends. Then you would switch at the twenty-five minute mark.

On January 28th of that year I was on the "play" side first. A teacher who had been out in their car and heard the news on the radio, came inside the school and got a television brought from the A/V room in the library. The we all saw it...

Space Shuttle Challenger had blown up.

I feel I was naive that bad things happened to decent people. I wasn't born when JFK was assassinated. I remembered the hostages in Iran but didn't fully comprehend the situation - I was just seven at the time.

The loss of Challenger is ingrained in my brain as vividly as the collapse of the Twin Towers. NASA's worst moment was the day I lost my innocence.

I couldn't move from the television set. I didn't eat lunch that day. I could only stare straight ahead as Dan Rather did this best he could to explain the accident. People around me started making jokes... but I thought they were in bad taste - I still do. There is one and only one topic I will not joke about... and that's the destruction of a space shuttle. Heroes deserve more than being the butt of a punchline.

Dick Scobee. Michael Smith. Ellison Onizuka. Judith Resnick. Ronald McNair. Gregory Jarvis. Christa McAuliffe.

Ronald Reagan said at their memorial: "A nation, too, will long feel the loss of her seven sons and daughters, her seven good friends." I still feel that loss.

To the heroic crew of Discovery... I wish you God speed and a safe trip home.