Why an exploding Space Shuttle changed my early youth.

Today, 20 years ago, my little brother celebrated his 9th birthday while my best friend of that time celebrated her 10th the same day - and the Challenger detonated live in tv, aired all over the planet at least in the western world (remember the cold war?!). For my early and innocent enthusiasm for technology that was a major downer - and a fact I couldn't simply take that way with my 10 years. So already on the late evening of Tina's birthday we set the plan to form a spy club. Thanx god agents 'stoolboxes were the fahion toy of the year and my mother had gifted me one for christmas. Of course we had no real connection with the NASA, no real clue what was going on and the anxiety and play fun of the first conspiracy and spying around soon became a downer in itself as it was pointless. But what was planted in that time was my compassion in newspaper research and carefully reading, in archiving any nonsense and knowing about it later. I think this was the first starting for me wanting to become a journalist later. Crazy date.