Remembering the tragic space shuttle Challenger explosion

"Wasn't it tragic?" Viola Armstrong, Neil Armstrong's mother, told a Dayton Daily News reporter about the shuttle explosion.

Viola Armstrong said she felt "so badly" for all the families of the Challenger astronauts, as she also recalled the launch of her son's mission to the moon in 1969.

"The TV media was here," she said. "Our minister was here and my mother was here. ... I really have such a deep faith. That's what carried me through."

Teachers throughout the Dayton area worked in the days following the explosion to help their students understand what happened.

At Edison Elementary School, students wrote letters to the families of the dead astronauts.

"Dear family of Christa, I am sorry (for) the lost mother," one student began a letter.

Other teachers held discussions about how the students were feeling. At Lincoln IGE Magnet School, students read their letters over the public-address system.

"When dreams die, it seems that faith dies," one student said.

In the days after the explosion, Dayton Daily News editor Brad Tillson wrote a column headlined "Tragedy shouldn't soften our resolve."

In it, Tillson wrote that some in our society had taken the space program for granted despite its high risk. It had also, he wrote, produced some of the best heroes for a society whose heroes in other ventures, like sports, had become tainted.

He urged that the space program, despite concerns, should continue.

"It seems inconceivable that this land of explorers ... would choose to have her sons and daughters remain behind as observers while machines or other humans explore the universe," Tillson wrote.

Thomas W. Rowlette, a former Air Force bugler, attended the shuttle launch with a friend. They stayed outside the Kennedy Space Center gates to watch, because they wanted to avoid the crowds.

He produced a memorable moment. From the Dayton Daily News in February 1986:

"When the shuttle exploded shortly after liftoff, Rowlette jumped into his car and drove to the space center - against the traffic. Standing at the closed gate, dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit with an American flag at the neck, he lifted his trumpet and blew Taps.

"'I knew my country needed me,' he said. 'I knew those airmen and Navy fliers, as well as the other astronauts, deserved a tribute and an honoring. And I knew Kennedy did not employ someone like me, because they don't have accidents.'"

John Glenn, the U.S. Senator and famous astronaut, expressed hope that support for the space program would continue despite the shuttle tragedy in a column that was published in the Dayton Daily News.

Some highlights from his column:

• "We must not allow their tragic fate to tempt us away from their quest or to cloud the lessons their mission teaches."
• "And we're never content merely to see what is down the road to the future; we want to design that road and we want to build that future."
• "And while machines can extend the grasp of our hands, they can never replace the reach of our minds."
• "Our curiosity pushes us into the unknown and gives us the courage to face the risks involved."