jan 28, 1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

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On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members. The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the 10th flight for the orbiter and the 25th flight of the Space Shuttle fleet. The crew was scheduled to deploy a commercial communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while in orbit, as well as taking schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe into space under the Teacher in Space Project.

The disaster was caused by the failure of the primary and secondary O-ring seals in a joint in the right Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). Record-low temperatures on the morning of the launch stiffened the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal the joints. Shortly after liftoff, the seals were breached, and hot pressurized gas from within the SRB leaked through the joint and burned through the aft attachment strut connecting it to the external propellant tank (ET) and into the tank itself. The collapse of the ET's internal structures and the rotation of the SRB propelled the shuttle stack, traveling at Mach 1.92, into a direction that allowed aerodynamic forces to tear the orbiter apart. Both SRBs detached from the now-destroyed ET and continued to fly uncontrollably until the range safety officer destroyed them.

The crew compartment, containing human remains, and many other fragments from the shuttle were recovered from the ocean floor after a three-month search-and-recovery operation. The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program, with President Ronald Reagan creating the Rogers Commission to investigate the accident.

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