re: (They have) "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

quote:

---

One of those events like Kennedy assassination and 9/11 where if you were alive, you remember EXACTLY where you were when it happened.

---

Yup. I was 10, and schools in Atlanta were closed due to weather. My parents both had to work, so I was staying at my grandmother's until they got off. I remember sitting in her living room and watching it and not wanting to believe what I was seeing.

I was talking to a co-worker about this the other day. At that point I was so big into astronomy and the space program. I wanted to be involved somehow, seriously considered going into aerospace engineering even in college.

But I am so glad that I did not learn the truth about the crew compartment and the crew's last minutes until much later - honestly I think I was in college before I knew they were able to (at least partially) ride it down. I think if I had known that then, it may have changed my whole outlook on life and what I wanted to do in the future.