Where Were You When The Challenger Exploded?

Apollo 15 Command Module on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum



This is the question of my generation. Not "Where were you when you heard Kennedy was shot?" but rather "Where were you when the Challenger exploded?"

I was working as a waitress at Pizza Hut in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. I did the salad bar prep in the morning and opened the doors when the restaurant started serving lunch at 11:30am. Some of my regulars from a nearby Army base came in and told me the news. This was in the days before cell phones, internet, and instant news. I was in the middle of my lunch shift. But I remember that I heard that the Challenger had exploded and I inexplicably ran outside and looked up at the sky.

On another Tuesday morning in 2001, I did the same thing, but that's another story for another day.