I remember there were two shuttles on their launch pads at the time: Challenger and Columbia. I didn't remember that the 1st was Columbia until I saw your time line...Of course how could I ever forget that the 2nd was Challenger...

I remember the tour guide saying that it was the first time that two shuttles had ever been on the pads at the same time and how lucky we were to see that (Despite the fact that we couldn't get close because of all the volitiles...

Columbia launched without a hitch a few days later and the Challenger disaster was shortly after that.

I was a cold winter in Florida that year. Literally and figuratively...

Scott