Most of us look back on our childhood with fond memories.

After all, it's a time with no responsibilities, just movies, cartoons, and pure, unadulterated fun.

But deep down, maybe, it wasn't all rose-tinted love and laughter, and here are some hard truths to prove it.

You're listening.

You're listening.

You're listening to be amazed.

It was the morning of January 28, 1986, when the world watched on in horror as NASA's Prize,

Space Shuttle Challenger rocket exploded and broke apart in mid-air just 73 seconds after it set off on course to orbit the Earth.

The disaster tragically took the lives of seven crew members, including Krista McColliffe,

a social studies teacher who beat out 11,000 other applicants hoping to be the first civilian in space.

But what if I told you one of those potential space cadets was none other than Sesame

Streets larger than life educational puppet Big Bird?

Carol Spenny, Big Bird's creator and puppeteer, was the first-person approach to board the shuttle

alongside its official crew as part of NASA's mission to launch ordinary people

into space. A new program called the space flight participation program was designed in the early

1980s to get the general public excited about space travel, and the lovable yellow canary was

considered a perfect fit to get kids on board. Thankfully, Big Bird never donned his spacesuit,

as Spenny still maintains that the bird's eight foot too high became a minor hitch in the plan,

but just think how close the children of America were to watching their favorite TV character go up in flames live on air.

Next up, the Monty Morpherent Power Rangers.

Whether you were a die-hard fan or not, Next up, the Money Morpherent Power Rangers.

Whether you were a die-hard fan or not, there's no denying that they played an important part in childhoods across the globe.

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