Teaching Through Tragedy

I was 7 1/2 when the shuttle Challenger exploded during its launch 20 years ago. I lived near Omaha, Nebraska back then, and I remember watching it on television, not knowing quite what to think about it. I think that I and every kid I knew back then had wanted to be an astronaut when we had grown up.

Here's an article published in the Santa Maria Times about the experience of a recent aquaintance of mine, Jerry Loomer, who was one of the Teacher-in-Space finalists for that ill-fated voyage. Today he teaches Physics and Chemistry at my former high-school in Santa Maria, CA.