I know, it sounds terrible. But if you don't have a dark sense of humor in this business, it would be far too depressing. I see wire pictures every day that we couldn't possibly run. Seriously, there were pictures after Katrina far worse than what you saw on the news, and those were bad enough.

I don't remember the tragedy as I was only three at the time.

However the space camp I worked at summer after freshman year of college did a very powerful briefing to the campers about the tragedy...

While the article says the Reagan Administration didn't order the launch (which is true, there was no "order", there was still political pressure to get the launch going. There was supposed to be the State of the Union address broadcast which helped contribute, but far greater pressure just existed in the program as a whole. The shuttle was supposed to represent, at least to some extent, NASA making money to offset the cost of flights. Part of the reasoning behind a reusable vehicle fleet was that there could be a much greater US presence (in terms of having a flight up) in space without a space station. NASA was essentially using Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis in rotation. One was in orbit, the other in pre-flight prep/on the pad, and the third in post flight processing. Columbia was being used essentially being stripped for parts for the other shuttles. Challenger was the eleventh launch from January 1985 to January 1986...just amazing how flights they were putting up. That sort of schedule was political pressure and one of many contributing factors to the tragedy...

It's weird because I learned so much about it, and yet very few people my age even remember/have any idea about it.

Living not only in Houston but the SE side in Clear Lake wear knowing in astronaut is considered normal, this tragedy hit me very hard. I was actually living on the poor side of town in Seabrook TX when I saw the Challenger explode on television. School was canceled, it hit everyone very hard. My mother still tells the story of calling the school immediately following the accident and the receptionist was in complete tears and hung up on her. It’s hard to think about, I had astronauts as soccer coaches and the children of astronauts some of which died that day in my classes and the footage of the Challenger exploding still chokes me up till this day.

Unofficial memorial sites to the fallen American astronauts:

Apollo 1 (AS-204): http://www.datamanos2.com/apollo_burning.html
Challenger (STS-51L): http://www.datamanos2.com/icarus_rising.html
Columbia (STS-107): http://www.datamanos2.com/phaeton_descending.html

Let us not forget also the Russians who gave their lives in their space program:

Vladimir Komarov
(Soyuz 1, 1967)

Georgi Dobrovolsky
Vladislav Volkov
Viktor Patsayev
(Soyuz 11, 1971)

I was in 9th grade and I really can't believe its been twenty years. I remember watching in Science class and everyone being so excited because a school teacher was on the mission. When the Challenger exploded my entire class screamed and cried.