UPDATE January 28, 2026...I just realized that today marks the 40th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, so I wanted to repost this post that I wrote back in 2019 to remember this day. I will make updates as needed in the post...
Today I am reposting this to take you back in time to a sad, sad day in the history of our nation...Thirty Three years ago today 40 years ago today, 1/28/1986, we were all horrified as we watched the Space Shuttle Challenger blow up as it was launched into space, with 7 courageous, wonderful crew members on board. I'm sure all of us who were living at that time can remember where we were when this disastrous tragedy occurred. I was living in Gainesville, Georgia, and our kids were out of school for the day due to an unusually extremely frigid, below freezing morning. We actually were visiting with some friends so our kids could have something to do when the news came on the TV...and from then on our eyes were glued to the set as our hearts were breaking.
My mother and father were at their home in Tavares, Florida, the home I grew up in, and one advantage to their home was that one could always get a good view of the rocket/space shuttle launches from the back yard...even though Cape Kennedy (Canaveral) was some 100 miles away from our home.
Because this particular launch was to be so historical, my mother was right there watching with her camera in hand (I wonder where I got that trait????), and now I am privileged to have these shapshots, with my mother's own written narrative on the back of each picture, telling the sad and tragic story of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Therefore, I am sharing this bit of history with you today, on the 33rd 40th anniversary of that horrific event. I hope you can decipher my mother's handwriting...and can sense the horror she felt as she witnessed this sorrowful disaster. I'm sorry the photos aren't clearer, but they are pretty good for 1986.
I will let my mother's notes explain each preceding picture:
"Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But MY salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished."
Isaiah 51:6
"I, even I, am He who comforts you."
Isaiah 51:12a
Internet Photo from Facebook 1/28/2026
