our report from nbc's tom costello. >> pilot mike smith followed by christa mcauliffe, teacher in space. >> reporter: 25 years later, those images of "challenger's" smiling eager crew also bring gut-wrenching foreboding. we know of the safety shortcuts the unheeded warnings and those five words that would stay with us forever. >> challenger, go with throttle up. >> challenger going with throttle up. >> i was a 17-year-old student. at that time thinking what did i just see? we weren't sure what we just saw. >> reporter: mikayla pond, now a teacher, was watching the launch at concord high school in new hampshire. the school where christa mcauliffe was teaching when she was selected to be the first teacher in space. instead for mikayla and thousands of kids across the country, "challenger" became a lesson in loss and grief. >> a shock of our teacher is no longer with us. >> reporter: today at the kennedy space center, a solemn tribute. >> we who remain on the ground and asked them to fly failed them that day as we would fail the crew of "columbia" 17 years later and as we failed the crew o

tom costello in d.c. and peter alexander in new york. gentlemen, thanks. >>> there is increasing evidence the world is changing, in spots and in stages. a movement that started in tunisia has now done what a lot of governments feared it would. it has spread elsewhere in the arab world. this week to egypt. as of today, yemen and the world is watching as the clock ticks down to what has been planned as a day of rage tomorrow against egypt. richard engle is on the banks of the nile in cairo tonight on what could be the eve of something big there. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. many people are very concerned about tomorrow. the demonstrators say they will start out from at least seven mosques and three churches here in cairo, and then plan to march to the center of the city. they hope to draw tens of thousands of people. the most violent clashes today were outside cairo. near the strategic suez canal, demonstrators torched a police station and a firehouse. witnesses say they stole weapons and opened fire on security

tom costello in washington. tom, thanks. >>> as we mentioned, president obama hit the road this morning fresh off the state of the union address last night. heading out to a state that will be crucial to him if he's going to win another term in office. our chief white house correspondent tonight exerting the better part of judgment is inside from the weather in the briefing room to bring us the story, the intrepid chuck todd. chuck, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. presidential travel the day after the state of the union to a swing state is almost as traditional as the state of the union itself. so today's stop was wisconsin. arriving in green bay packer country, the nation's most famous chicago bears fan got good-natured ribbing from the hometown faithful. >> let me start by clearing something up. i am not here because i lost a bet. >> reporter: and he stuck to the football theme to reinforce a new white house slogan. >> we're going to need to get serious about winning the future. >> reporter: eve

tom costello spent time with a search and rescue team to find out. he's here with the results. m, good morning. >> reporter: hi, matt. good morning. between snowmobiling, hiking, cross country skiing and camping, more people than ever are taking to the great outdoors, but if you are not prepared the quick trip can turn into tragedy. it was only supposed to be a quick two-hour cross country ski trip but suddenly experienced skiers randy and bill found themselves caught in a mountain approaching. >> you with me? >> reporter: soon they were building a fire and taking turns beneath a space blanket. >> it was a long night. got maybe 15 minutes' sleep, you know. mostly just glad to see the sun come up. >> reporter: being prepared kept them alive in a place where a turn in the weather can quickly turn fun into disaster. on rabbit ears pass in colorado, john hernandez always has one eye on his snowmobile tourists, another on the weather. >> it comes in out of nowhere. if you're not ready for it, it can zap you. >> reporter: the greatest risk, hypothermia. >> cold can freeze but wet can

tom costello, tell me the whole tom costello, tell me the whole story here. story here.'s name is michael connery. michael connery. he's one of the federal flight he's one of the federal flight deck officers, pilots who have deck officers, pilots who have been trained by the tsa in been trained by the tsa in marksmanship and have been marksmanship and have been issued a gun, in this case a .40 issued a gun, in this case a .40 caliber handgun. caliber handgun. he had that have gun secured in he had that have gun secured in a backpack. a backpack. he put the backpack down he put the backpack down apparently there at jfk. apparently there at jfk. we're led to believe it was in we're led to believe it was in the area where you're about to the area where you're about to board. board. in other words, around the in other words, around the gates. gates. he put the bag down. he put the bag down. another passenger thought that another passenger thought that was her bag. was her bag. she picked it up, got on her she picked it up, got on her flight to west palm beach. flight to west

tom costello has more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. of course it was also witnessed by classrooms of school kids across the country gathering to watch her liftoff. the seven members of "challenger" we'll never forget. ask anyone who is old enough to remember, they know where they were that day in 1986. in a single horrific moment, the seven crew members were gone. among them the first teacher in space. just 37, the mother of two from new hampshire, was selected from 11,000 teachers undergoing months of training. the liftoff was watched live. that night president reagan addressed the nation. >> we'll never forget them nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved good-bye and slipped the early bonds of earth to touch the face of god. >> and this is nasa's plaque. the challenger legacy served as a reminder to us that space flight is not routine. in fact, it may never be routine. >> this is our wedding picture. we were teenagers. he was just barely 19. >> reporter: june was married to the commande

tom costello is in washington this morning, he's got a bit of a refresher course. >> reporter: an awful on this stuff. we thought it was a good opportunity to go back and look at the dos and the don'ts, for that we return to the winter driving school out in colorado. my return trip to winter driving school wasn't supposed to go like this. >> that's a good example of everything not to do. >> that's my camera crew i almost took out. clearly it was time for a refresh. so under ice cold blue skies -- >> the surface is about eight inches of ice and snow. >> reporter: with steamboat mountain as the backdrop and after a quick drive from a stunt driver, it was my turn. lo the most common problem is losing control in a rear wheel skid. and i was soon reminded of the best way to avoid a skid. lift off of the accelerator, don't steer anymore. that is a good example. of everything not to do. >> reporter: i grew up driving on snow and ice and i still screwed up. >> most of us don't drive on this for six months at a time and then we jump back in to it with no preparation whatsoever. >> don't brake an

tom costello has details. >> reporter: it's a class action suit on behalf of a california consumer claimingl's beef tacos and burritos aren't really beef or not enough beef. not true, says taco bell, and it may sue for claims it says are false. for mexican fast food fans the if a cobell products sure look tasty. >> it's taco bell's new five layer burrito. >> reporter: but a lawsuit claims they are not honest about ingredients. in the words of a 1980s commercial -- >> where's the beef? >> reporter: the suit alleges they have less than 35% ground beef with the rest made up with fillers, seasoning, oat product, sodium phosphate, corn starch and other ingredients. >> consumers have the right to make an informed choice when buying a product from a company. >> reporter: attorney dee miles won't say how or why the testing was done or who did it. but taco bell denies the allegations telling nbc news, we buy beef from the same trusted brands you find in the supermarket. we start with 100% usda inspected beef. unfortunately the lawyers elected to sue first and ask questions later and got their facts