The day you were born, the whole world mourned.

Challenger 25th anniversary: Memories of the day

By Melissa Bell

This 1986 photo shows the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, from left, Ellison Onizuka, Mike Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Greg Jarvis, Ron McNair and Judy Resnick. (AP Photo/NASA)

On a bright blue morning in Florida in 1986, the Challenger shuttle launched into space. Twenty-eight years had passed since NASA had first formed. Shuttle flights had become routine. What set this one apart was the diversity of the crew and the addition of the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. The shuttle took off buoyed by hope and pride, watched by a nation enamored with the great U.S. space program and by schoolchildren filling classrooms early in the morning.

Seventy-three seconds later, the shuttle disappeared into an orange and white cloud, and the nation stood in shock and disbelief.

President Ronald Reagan, in a moving broadcast to the nation that afternoon, paraphrased a sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee, a young American airman killed in World War II saying the crew "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."

Read The Post's story, "The horror dawned slowly," from January 28, 1986 here.

Where were you on the day of the Challenger? What are your memories of that day?

I was in Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, UT being born.

Here's Reagan's speech the night of the Challenger explosion:

The lessons of the Challenger, 25 years later:

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By Melissa Bell | January 28, 2011; 7:37 AM ET

You can view 30 pictures of the day here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Including this one of my favorite child star:

Watching the launch
Classmates of the son of America's first teacher-astronaut cheer as the space shuttle Challenger lifts skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Jan. 28, 1986. Their delight turned to horror as the shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight. The boy in the white hat and glasses at center is Peter Billingsley, the star of "A Christmas Story" and a spokesman for the young astronaut program. (Jim Cole / AP)