I was in the 3rd grade and we were all in the gym. The school had set up T.V.'s for everyone in the gym to watch the launch. They had set up a lot of neat reports from the 5th graders and there was even a guy who was talking about space camp... Then the shuttle picture pre-launch came on the tv's. everyone was watching, launch... a few moments later, the all to familiar explosion and the two side strapped solid rockets peeling away debris falling... they cut the power to the tv's, it was very quiet for awhile. The principle came out and said that something had gone terribly wrong and that we were supposed to go back to our rooms, that he would tell us later on what happened. Later on that day, he came to our room and told us that they; the space su exploded. a very dark day indeed for my childhood.