The space shuttle Columbia, with a five member crew aboard, lifts off for the ninth time as STS-32 begins a 10-day mission in Earth orbit.

The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift off. (Credit: Bruce Weaver/AP Photo)

The Challenger lifting off Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986. (Credit: NASA/AP)

Five astronauts and two payload specialists make up the STS 51-L crew, scheduled to fly aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in January of 1986. Crewmembers are (left to right, front row) astronauts Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee and Ronald E. McNair; and Ellison S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis and Judith A. Resnik. McAuliffe and Jarvis are payload specialists, representing the Teacher in Space Project and Hughes Co., respectively.

28th January 1986: The space shuttle Challenger (STS-51L) takes off from the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. 73 seconds later the shuttle exploded, killing its seven crew members. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Challenger Disaster

Challenger Disaster Archives | HISTORY

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Space exploration, one of the greatest technological achievements in human history, includes the Apollo missions, the Space Shuttles Columbia and Challenger, and people like Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

Space Exploration

1986

During the 1980s, conservative politics and Reaganomics held sway as the Berlin Wall crumbled, new computer technologies emerged, AIDS ravaged the United States, especially the gay male community, and blockbuster movies and MTV reshaped pop culture.

1980s

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In 1976, the <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nasa-created">National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)</a> unveiled the world’s first reusable manned spacecraft, known as the space shuttle.

Five years later, flights began when the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/columbia-disaster">space shuttle Columbia</a> embarked on a 54-hour mission. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and its main engines, the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth.

When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments.

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Challenger, NASA’s second space shuttle to enter service, embarked on its maiden voyage on April 4, 1983, and made a total of nine voyages prior to 1986. 

That year, it was scheduled to launch on January 22 carrying a seven-member crew that included <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/christa-mcauliffe-9390406">Christa McAuliffe</a>, a 37-year-old high school social studies instructor from <a href="/topics/us-states/new-hampshire">New Hampshire</a> who had earned a spot on the mission through NASA’s Teacher in Space Program. After undergoing months of training, she was set to become the first ordinary American citizen to travel into space.

READ MORE: <a href="https://www.history.com/news/big-bird-challenger-disaster-nasa-sesame-street">Big Bird Nearly Rode on the Disastrous Challenger Mission</a>

The mission’s launch from <a href="https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/">Kennedy Space Center</a> at Cape Canaveral, <a href="/topics/us-states/florida">Florida</a>, was delayed for six days due to weather and technical problems.

The <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/challenger-explodes">morning of January 28</a> was unusually cold, and engineers warned their superiors that certain components—particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters—were vulnerable to failure at low temperatures. However, these warnings went unheeded, and at 11:39 a.m. Challenger lifted off.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including the families of McAuliffe and the other astronauts on board, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. 

Within seconds, the spacecraft broke apart and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew, traumatizing the nation and throwing NASA’s shuttle program into turmoil.

READ MORE: <a href="https://www.history.com/news/how-the-challenger-disaster-changed-nasa">Challenger Explosion: How Groupthink and Other Causes Led to the Tragedy</a>

Shortly after the disaster, President <a href="/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to develop future corrective measures. Headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, the commission included former astronaut <a href="/topics/neil-armstrong">Neil Armstrong</a> and former test pilot <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/chuck-yeager-9538831">Chuck Yeager</a>.

Their investigation revealed that the O-ring seal on Challenger’s solid rocket booster, which had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed. Flames then broke out of the booster and damaged the external fuel tank, causing the spacecraft to explode and disintegrate.

The commission also found that Morton Thiokol, the company that designed the solid rocket boosters, had ignored warnings about potential issues. NASA managers were aware of these design problems but also failed to take action. 

Famously, scientist Richard Feynman, a member of the commission, demonstrated the O-ring flaw to the public using a simple glass of ice water.

After the accident, NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of the shuttle’s features. 

Flights began again in September 1988 with the successful launching of Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, including the repair and maintenance of the <a href="http://www.history.com/news/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-hubble-space-telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> and the construction of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html">International Space Station</a>.

On February 1, 2003, a second shuttle disaster rocked the United States when the space shuttle Columbia <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbia-mission-ends-in-disaster">disintegrated upon reentry</a>, killing all seven people aboard. While missions resumed in July 2005, the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nasas-final-space-shuttle-mission-comes-to-an-end">space shuttle program ended</a> in 2011.

Ten years after the Challenger disaster, two large pieces from the spacecraft washed ashore on a Florida beach. The remaining debris is now stored in a missile silo at Cape Canaveral.

READ MORE: <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration">Space Exploration: Timeline and Technologies</a>

Challenger Disaster

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This Day in History

The space shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff

Columbia Space Shuttle mission ends in disaster