FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 file photo, four crew members of the space shuttle Challenger walk from their quarters at Kennedy Space Center in Floirda, en route to the launch pad. From foreground are pilot Mike Smith, school teacher Christa McAuliffe, mission specialist Ellison Onizuka and payload specialist Gregory Jarvis. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers turned astronauts on the International Space Station will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Much like the events of September 11, 2001, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963, Americans across all levels of society remember exactly where they were when the Challenger Space shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after it lifted off its launch pad on January 28, 1986. It was a chilly winter morning that, in an instant, took the lives of the seven astronauts onboard. It was a disaster of epic proportion that played out on live TV.

Even now, like dust particles floating across the lens of my memory, the images of the shocking way that those seven souls were taken away from us forever in front of family and friends remains seared into the collective mind of people across the globe. Almost immediately after liftoff, a flame could be seen shooting out of the solid rocket booster; a flame that would ultimately prove to be the prime catalyst for a catastrophic explosion that left a worldwide audience gaping in stunned disbelief. It was a frozen moment in time that saw the smiles and cheering of the happy crowd gather at Cape Canaveral suddenly dissolve into a sea tears and horror.

It would also be chronicled as being the most significant and tragic event in the history of space exploration in terms of how it impacted NASA and the United States space program. The disaster spawned a three year suspension of NASA’S space shuttle program, and the creation of the Rogers Commission, a group assembled by President Ronald Reagan to find the answer to what went so tragically wrong.

Of the millions of Americans watching the disaster unfold on television, many had tuned in to watch Christa McAuliffe. The New Hampshire English and Social Studies teacher at Concord High School, and mother of two children, became an overnight celebrity. She would have been the first teacher to go into space. Prior to the launch date, she trained for six months to join the crew as a Payload Specialist, however, it was always teaching and learning that were her north star. To this end, she had two space flight lesson plans in place that were titled “The Ultimate Field Trip” and “Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going, Why”

While the world still mourns the crew who perished in a fiery explosion, the untimely loss of McAuliffe is still felt deeply in New Hampshire, and in Framingham, Massachusetts, the town in which she grew up. I have always felt, and still do to this day, that there is a very strong possibility that Christa McAuliffe would be well known today even if she hadn’t soared off into eternity in such a cruel and brutal way. Her time here was so very brief. She left before the world could fully embrace her gifts for teaching and nurturing young minds, and tragically before her two young children had the chance to collect and catalogue a lifetime of treasured memories of their mother. Looking back at her short life, Christa McAuliffe really did leave us with a call to reach for the stars. The personal legacy that she left behind was one of optimism, curiosity and a zest for life. One could see these things in the bright and vibrant smile that could light up the dark corners of the deepest night. In my mind, I can still see that winning smile as I sit here writing this.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 1985 file photo, Christa McAuliffe tries out the commander's seat on the flight deck of a shuttle simulator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers turned astronauts on the International Space Station will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes. (AP Photo)

In the final analysis, it was determined that a combination of cold weather and the failure in the joint between two segments of the right solid rocket motor was responsible for the Challenger’s explosion. The joint failure was caused by the destruction of a key component; the “O-ring seal” that was designed to prevent hot gasses from leaking through the joint during the rocket motor’s propellant burn.

I grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, and my parent’s house was located directly behind the home where Christa McAuliffe, then Christa Corrigan, grew up. That being said, I did not know Christa or the Corrigan family. However, I have a vivid memory of my mother calling me on the phone on the evening of the incident and telling me how shocked she was to see camera crews from the major TV networks tramping through her snow-covered back yard on their way to the Corrigan house in an attempt to shoot video through the back windows in the midst of the family’s hour of grief.

Many people in Framingham knew the Corrigan family. Christa’s brother, Steve Corrigan, was a star athlete at Framingham North High School, and her mother, the late Grace Corrigan, was an admired and well liked woman by those in Framingham who knew her.

In 1994, the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning opened in Framingham. The center features the Challenger Learning Center that offers visitors an interactive virtual tour of the International Space Station and the chance to experience a simulated space mission.

It is crystal clear that Christa McAuliffe approached teaching with a spirit that was both visionary and dedicated. Looking back at her 37 years on this Earth, she was all the things that a teacher is supposed to be; the kind of teacher that parents always want their kids to have.

The launch of the space shuttle Challenger.

Michael Smith, Commander and Pilot, Commander Francis “Dick” Scobee, Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka and Mission Specialist Judith Resnick were the six other members of the Challenger Space Shuttle who left us on that winter day in 1986. Thirty five years later, the Challenge remains a bottomless well of shock and sadness, and a tragedy of stunning proportion. That having been said, for many people in New Hampshire and Massachusetts it will live forever as an indelible memory of the captivating and indomitable spirit of Christa McAuliffe. What she left behind on that long ago day still stays with us today. Not only is she among the 10 women to be included in USA Today’s “Women of the Century” list, for both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, she was, and always will be, one of our own.

Paul Collins is a freelance writer from Southborough, Massachusetts.