re: School Project:What do you remember....
I was a senior in High School. I was between classes when I heard the news. I found a TV and watched the news. I have been an amateur Astronomer since I was 12, so it hit me hard. I remember feeling depressed for many days, and it haunted me long afterward. I feared it would kill manned exploration of space and I wondered if it would take decades to pick up the pieces and bounce back.
I had similar emotions after 9/11, a day that still haunts me.
The strange thing is, as sad as I was to see the loss of Columbia and her crew, I didn’t feel the same emotional devastation I felt in Challenger or 9/11. I think it is because I know we will rise out of the ashes of the tragedy.