By Frank MacekThe crisp morning of January 28, 1986, was one that none of us will ever forget. The Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off on its doomed mission that ended just 73 seconds into flight. The white clouds of smoke looked remarkable and almost beautiful until we realized what we had just witnessed - the death of seven American heroes.
Being the 25th flight, we had come to view shuttle liftoffs as routine. We never had an accident with the shuttle program, although we always knew in the back of our minds it could happen. On January 28, 1986, the unthinkable occurred and shook our nation to its core.
It's a moment in history we will never forget about what we were doing or how helpless we felt watching tiny fragments of shuttle debris falling from the sky, remarkably peaceful it seemed as they each floated to the ocean surface. Your blogger was still at James A. Garfield High School in Garrettsville, Ohio, and felt so helpless and vulnerable. For my generation, it was really the first major event that opened our eyes and scared us. Many of my peers and I cried.
WKYC Producer Dan Stadler put together a nice collecction of some of the footage we aired during our newscasts on that solemn night featuring the late Dale Solly and reporter Paul Rae.
It's a look back at one day that changed America.
