One of those defining moments where people can often remember where they were when they heard the news.
I was in 3rd grade and I was delivering a message from my teacher to the principal's office. While I was walking through the halls I passed by the school library that had a TV on showing the launch. There was a small crowd around the TV and thought I'd take a look since I was excused from class. I got to the TV shortly after the explosion happened and the pieces were raining back down from the sky. The TV announcers were still speculating as to what happened and one of them mentioned that it looked like the shuttle exploded because there was no visible sign of the craft at all.
I delivered my message and went back to class. When I walked in I told my teacher that the space shuttle exploded. She told me that was a horrible thing to say and sent me back to my desk. About 15 minutes later an announcement came over the PA system to the whole school to meet in the gym, where they told us what happened and had a TV setup for us to watch the news. My teacher later apologized to me.