You’re talking about the LAST mission.

I remember sitting in the office when deputy called dispatch and reported some strange contrails in the sky. “Did a rocket blow up or something?”

Lopi and I climbed up on the roof and could see the smoke clearly from West Palm Beach.

I remember remarking that going up in a flash of light wouldn’t be a bad way to end it. We found out later that the crew survived the initial explosion, unfortunately.

In 1987 I drew the assignment to go to the Cape when they sealed the Challenger debris in abandoned Minuteman Missile silos.

Columbia’s debris was made available for scientific research.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_columbia_030414.html

I was pretty little then, and don’t remember a lot of world events from that era, but I will remember THAT one forever. Actually, I don’t think that there is anything that sticks out in my head again, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.