Guys, today's got me thinking. 

Today I was reading through different articles online to see what happened today in history, you know how it goes.  And then I read that the Challenger Tragedy happened today in 1986. I don't think I have to go into too much about it because we all know, but just in case, here are a few details.

It happened 73 seconds after liftoff, and killed all seven crew members:  flight commander Dick Scobee;  pilot Michael Smith;  Ronald McNair;  Ellison Ozinuka;  Judith Resnik;  Gregory Jarvis;  and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. It happened at 11:39:13 a.m. EST, which would have been 10:39 here. It was a Tuesday, so we would have been in school, and around that time could have been close to lunch.

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Now here's the thing. I was in either first or second grade at the time.  I have a memory of watching the Challenger explode.  But I'm not sure if it's real, or if it's a false memory.  A false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened.

Scott Lewis
Scott Lewis
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Let's go over it.  First of all, thousands of kids all over America were watching, that part is one hundred percent verifiable. They were watching because a schoolteacher was going into space, it was a very big deal. But most of the decision on whether to watch or not was up to the school, from what I've been able to suss out.  So some schools watched it, some didn't.

Here's what I remember:  I remember a bunch of us at Heber Hunt Elementary were taken to the cafeteria, and there was a big old tv on one of those rolling carts.  In my recollection, we were watching when it happened, and it was quickly turned off and we were sent back to class.  I don't remember anything else about it.

Night Takeoff Of The American Space Shuttle
3DSculptor
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And that's the part that makes me wonder if I didn't read about other kids seeing it and kind of pasted a memory in there. Key parts of the story are missing, which makes me think it might not be the full real story.  It seems like they would have, you know, talked to us about it? I mean, I get if the teachers and staff didn't know what was going on (no one did) and couldn't explain it to us in the moment, but surely they would have eventually, right?  Why don't I have a memory of that part?  Surely the teachers sent something home with us to tell our parents?  Why don't I have a memory of my parents talking to me about it?  

Now, please don't misunderstand.  I'm not questioning whether the tragedy actually happened. I am questioning whether I saw it happen in school. 

So... fellow Generation Xers of Sedalia..... is this a false memory of mine, or do you remember it happening too?  What else to you remember?  What parts did I miss? Or... did my brain just make all of this up? I do have a weird brain that is riddled with MS, so it's hard for me to completely trust my memory sometimes.

Curiously yours,

Behka

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