More Guns, Less Crime book by John R. Lott. Professor at University of Chicago. Read it at http://books.google.com/

I was standing in my front yard in Melbourne, Florida (Space Coast) watching in disbelief as the Challenger exploded right before my eyes. I was using binoculars at the time. I knew something went wrong. I had seen dozens rocket launches live since the Apollo missions. I grew up wanting to go into space. My neighbor accross the street used to put the Apollo astronuts into their spacesuits before launch. My next door neighbor still works at Kennedy Space Center. I just couldn't beleive it. From my vantage point, it looked like one of the boosters was going the wrong way after separation. I kept waiting for the Orbiter and big fuel tank to come cruising out of that cloud of smoke. But, that didn't happen. I watched a large piece fall out of the sky as long as I could. I beleive it was the crew cabin still intact. It fell for what seemed like forever. I went inside to watch the replay on TV. The mission control announcer was in shock. I couldn't beleive what I had just seen. I kept thinking that this just didn't happen. I got a phone call from a friend in Atlanta, Georiga who used to live in Melbourne, FL. He asked me what the heck happened! I told him what I saw and speculated that the crew cabin of the orbiter was designed to come down in one piece in an emergency. Sadly I was mistaken. It was very hard for all the Space Ccoast residents that day. We all have family and friends that work at KSC or support their mission. My father worked at Harris Corp., Palm Bay, FL and worked on the TDRS satelite the Challenger was carrying that grim day. I pray that they will be remembered as the brave souls they were and we never forget the space travel is still inherently dangerous. But that should not keep us from going back to the Moon and on to Mars. My son has expressed intrest in going into space. Who knows, mabey someday....