I am going to out myself as a bigtime nerd.

Many, many moons ago, in the early 80's, when I was but a wee little nerdling, I wanted more than anything else to become an astronaut. I owned a copy of a book (which I, of course, can no longer remember the title of) all about the Space Shuttle. It had many of the checklists and procedures actually used on the real Shuttle. The book even included a multi-page fold out diagram of the cockpit showing most, if not all, of the switches, buttons, and instruments.

My friend and I made a mockup of the cockpit which included many of the more important instruments and switches. We had much of the cockpit layout and function memorized and practiced "launches" to keep ourselves entertained.

Then the Challenger disaster happened. I was in 7th grade, Mrs. Mayfields Social Studies class when it happened. I knew where they were in the flight sequence. I knew what was going on with the boosters and the orbiter itself. I knew the ramifications of what had happened. It was nothing less then devastating to me. Until this point, I had the impression that NASA in general, and the astronauts in particular were nothing short of Gods. They were my ultimate heroes, and this was the first time I can recall in my life that I saw one of my heroes revealed as a mere mortal.

To this day, I don't know how I got home from school. I know I came home early, but I have no recollection of leaving class, calling my parents, or anything else; I assume I was in a state of shock. I do remember this as the first instance of being absolutely glued to the news coverage for an extended period of time. I know my parents did not make me change the television or even leave it for meals, and they kept my younger siblings out of the room so I could watch all of the coverage uninterrupted for the rest of the day and most of the next.

When I finally pried myself away from the television, I calmly packed away my "cockpit" and moved on from that dream. After that day, I knew the only way I would visit the stars is through a telescope in my backyard.

TLDR: I was (and I guess technically still am) a nerd, you made me tear up a bit.