The Challenger Disaster
The International Space Station
The 10th launch of the space shuttle Challenger was scheduled as the 25th space shuttle mission. Francis R. (Dick) Scobee was the mission commander. The crew included Christa McAuliffe, a high-school teacher from New Hampshire. The five other crew members were Gregory B. Javis, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, and Michael J. Smith.
After several launch delays, NASA officials overruled the concerns of engineers and ordered a liftoff on a cold morning, Jan. 28, 1986. The mission ended in tragedy. Challenger disintegrated into a ball of fire. The accident occurred 73 seconds into flight, at an altitude of 46,000 feet (14,020 meters) and at about twice the speed of sound.
Strictly speaking, Challenger did not explode, various structural failures caused the spacecraft to break apart. Although Challenger disintegrated almost without warning, the may have briefly been aware that something was wrong. The crew cabin tore loose from the rest of the shuttle and soared through the air. It took almost three minutes for the cabin to fall to the Atlantic Ocean, where it smashed on impact, killing the seven crew members.
All shuttle missions were halted while a special commission appointed by President Reagan determined the cause of the accident and what could be done to prevent such disasters from happening again.