I was in college. I remember watching it and wondering how it could happen, with it being NASA and on TV and all. The next morning a prof who was more left of center than the rest opined that the lives lost were not worth the press coverage vs lives lost in El Salvador, and that in ten years time no one would remember. Most of us were both angry at that, but somewhat reflective. On the former point, more or less he was accurate. On the latter dead wrong, as this thread proves.