As luck would have it I was in the Kelly’s Records New Westminster location 40 years ago when Challenger blew the fuck up over the Rocky Mountain lake blue skies of America. In those days audio-visual shops like Kelly’s had a wall of televisions so one could easily compare the different models available to take home and watch hockey on. The staff, a few customers and myself stared at the wall astonished if not in total disbelief. We all knew the crew died frightfully in a manner many of us consider to be the worst way to go. We spoke in hushed tones, the hushed tones usually reserved for use when speaking of someone with cancer.
If it had just been men who slowly died up there we would not have been quite so sad. There were women up there however - 2 of them. Watching that bank of televisions was like watching a video of your family dying in a car crash over and over again as the recorded images of the event were replayed for hours on end.
Was not until 911 happened (I woke in time that day in time to see the 2nd aircraft find its mark) that I saw anything like it. If it were possible the crew on the Challenger would surely have ejected just as many of my fellow human beings ejected from the burning sky scrapers of New York, New York.
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