Dreaming of Space, but remembering tragedy

As a child, I, like many, dreamed of going into space, especially after watching the moon landing on television. I continued to watch the moon missions, but eventually the "new" wore off, and the missions appeared to become routine.
The spark was reignited when NASA brought out the Shuttle.


The initial baby steps, with the Shuttle perched atop the the 747, the first mission in April of 1981 again made many of us remember the dream (although by that time I knew I would never be an astronaut), and again, routine set in....then came January 28, 1986.
I was on the way to class (Dr. McKinney...I think we were studying The Lost Honor of Katerina Blum) when I saw the early coverage of the tragedy on the Klassen Hall TV.
I don't remember the class, but I remember watching the coverage of the tragedy the rest of the day. The images of that day, and the phrase "go with throttle up..." still linger in my head.
My wife and I had the priviledge of attending the 1st landing of a Shuttle after Challenger. At the time the crowd that day at Edwards AFB was estimated at nearly 400,000.

It does not seem like it could have been twenty years ago.