CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (KMOX) — On January 28, 1986, students all across America gathered around TV sets to watch the first school teacher, Payload Specialist Christa McAuliffe, get launched into space on the NASA space shuttle Challenger.
Sadly, she and her crew didn't make it, and a nation was left stunned in silence after Challenger blew up in the sky.
It was a particularly cold morning on the east coast of Florida. Overnight temperatures hit 18 °F and ice had actually formed all over the launch pad. By the time the shuttle launched, it was still below freezing (28.0 to 28.9 °F), and a launch under such cold temperatures had not been attempted before. The coldest launch up to that point was at 54 °F.
Crowds gathered at Kennedy Space Center could be heard openly gasping and expressing their shock when the shuttle carrying the crew broke apart in the sky. Many schools allowed their students, who witnessed the tragedy from classrooms across the country, to go home early for the day.