Thirty years ago today, Americans nationwide tuned in to watch the launch of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger. Aboard were seven astronauts, including New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was chosen out of thousands of finalists to teach a lesson from space.

Disaster struck when, 73 seconds into liftoff, the Challenger exploded, and all seven astronauts on board were killed. The events of the day changed how NASA operated, and left a lasting legacy on the nation that some Coppell High School faculty remember.

Michael Brock, IB History of the Americas Teacher

“ I remember it really really well because, one of my teachers, and he was also my assistant  baseball coach, was the other finalist, along with Christa McAuliffe, to be the teacher on the space shuttle. So she got the seat, and he was the last guy that would have gotten it. Around my whole school, it was like a really sobering thing because Coach Curran was the other guy considered for that seat. It was a really memorable and shocking thing. It was shocking to everybody, but it seemed a little more devastating. We didn’t hear about it until lunch – initially you thought it was a rumor. When you got back into your classrooms, you could tell that it was a real thing. There were only two or three classrooms on campus that had a TV, and could watch the launch, and it spread from there.”

Mike Jasso, CHS Principal

“I remember that I was driving, and driving near downtown Dallas. You know how some images just stay with you? I don’t know why I remember that. And the news came over the radio and it just struck me. I wasn’t paying close attention to the news or the radio but all of a sudden, it really captured my attention. That’s really a jarring type of news, so I remember pulling over to really pay attention and focus on what the radio was saying. As more and more news came out, I was saddened by the whole thing and praying for the families.”

Jan McClintock, AP Computer Science Teacher

“I was in a training class, learning Cobal, my first programming language. I was in Lansing, Mich. Somebody came in and said that it had happened, and I was like “no way.” I was sick to my stomach because I’ve always enjoyed the space program and I’ve seen many launches so it’s been a big part of my life growing up.”

Diane de Waal, AP U.S. History Teacher

“We were in school and I was teaching at [Coppell Middle School West]. West was just the South campus back then. We had those big channel 1 TVs. We watched it take off, we were actually watching a launch with a room full of kids and saw the explosion in the sky and it was just unbelievable. The school day was beautiful just like today: blue skies and everything. It was just hard to believe that something that NASA had built had failed.

“It was just shocking. Everyone was stunned and just in a state of disbelief. The teacher got a lot of coverage for being a teacher and more than anything I was just sad since it was a dream and it was something nobody else was wanting to do. It was for nothing. We’re just regular people. It was more personal for me since she was someone I could’ve worked with.”