Challenger: Shuttle Disaster That Changed NASA Challenger: Shuttle Disaster That Changed NASA By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | October 16, 2012 01:21pm ET MORE The space shuttle Challenger was one of NASA's greatest triumphs. It was the second shuttle to reach space, in April 1983. It successfully completed nine milestone missions. But Challenger was also NASA's darkest tragedy. On its 10th launch, on Jan. 28, 1986, the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven crewmembers. The accident changed the space program forever. This full view of Challenger in space was taken by a satellite. A heavily cloud-covered portion of the Earth forms the backdrop for this scene of Challenger in orbit. This image was taken during Challenger's STS-7 mission, which launched on June 18, 1983. Credit: NASA From test vehicle to space vehicle NASA originally intended Challenger to be a test vehicle. Rockwell began building the shuttle in November 1975 and then sent it to Lockheed for structural testing starting on April 2, 1978.

According to NASA, computer models at the time were not sophisticated enough to calculate the stresses on the shuttle during different phases of flight. The shuttle, then known as STA-099, went through 11 months of vibration testing in a specially formulated rig. This custom-designed machine could bring the shuttle through a simulation of all phases of flight, from liftoff to landing. Three hydraulic cylinders, each with one million pounds of force, were used as substitute space shuttle main engines. In 1979, NASA awarded Rockwell a supplemental contract to convert the test vehicle to a spacecraft. This would expand the shuttle fleet to two spacecraft, the first one being Columbia . It took two more years for Rockwell to perform the conversion. Among other things, workers had to strengthen the wings, put in a real crew cabin instead of a simulated one, and install heads-up displays for the astronauts working inside. Work completed on Oct. 23, 1981. Delays for the first flight Challenger was expected to go into space on Jan. 20, 1983, to release the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite , which later became part of a series of satellites that astronauts used to stay in touch with controllers back home.

Several technical malfunctions pushed the launch back, though. First, NASA discovered a hydrogen leak in the No. 1 main engine aft compartment during a flight readiness test in December. In a second test on Jan. 25, 1983, NASA discovered cracks in the engine that were causing the leak. The agency then took several months to remove the engines and test them. While engines two and three were deemed healthy, NASA replaced Engine No. 1. A view of the shuttle Challenger's maiden STS-6 launch on April 4, 1983. In this view, Challenger is just clearing the launch pad in a cloud of smoke. Credit: NASA After another delay due to a problem with TDRS, Challenger launched successfully on April 4, 1983, on mission STS-6. Crew members set the satellite free; astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson also did the first spacewalk of the shuttle program. Cultural and technical firsts Besides the milestones in space technology, Challenger also was the vehicle by which several cultural firsts happened in the space shuttle program. The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride , rode up on Challenger on STS-7 in June 1983.

The first African-American , Guion Bluford, reached space on STS-8. On STS-41G in 1984, two women — Ride and Kathryn Sullivan — flew on one mission for the first time – as well as the first Canadian, Marc Garneau. Other milestones Challenger marked included the first night launch and landing (STS-8) and the first operational Spacelab flight (STS-51B). Spacelab was a European space laboratory that fit into a shuttle's cargo bay and included several experiments designed for tests in microgravity. It flew on Columbia on STS-9 for the first time, but Challenger's mission is considered the first working one. The flying repairman Some of Challenger's most memorable moments took place in April 1984, on STS-41C. That mission featured the very first astronaut repair of a satellite. To get at the nonfunctional Solar Maximum Mission satellite, astronaut George Nelson strapped himself into the Manned Maneuvering Unit , which was a jet-powered backpack designed for astronauts to fly in space. It had only been tested on one mission before this one.

Challenger moved in space until it was only 200 feet from the satellite. Then, Nelson carefully left the safety of the shuttle and flew over to the satellite. A "fixture" on the front of his backpack let Nelson dock with the satellite, which was slowly tumbling in space. Next, he fired the jets on his backpack to stop the satellite's spin. Crew members on Challenger then maneuvered the space shuttle close to the satellite, reached out with the Canadarm robotic arm, and plucked the satellite out of empty space and into the payload bay. Nelson and crewmate James "Ox" Van Hoften repaired the satellite together, then the crew lofted the satellite back into space. SMM continued functioning for several years, then burned up in the atmosphere in December 1989. Challenger disaster It was a cold morning on Jan. 28, 1986, when Challenger was supposed to fly into space. Temperatures dipped below freezing. There were certain people at NASA and among contractors that worried about the integrity of the seals on the solid rocket boosters in cold weather.

At 78 seconds after liftoff, this image shows Challenger's left wing, main engines (still burning residual propellant) and the forward fuselage (crew cabin). Credit: NASA Challenger launched at 11:38 a.m. Eastern time in front of more media attention than usual, as it was carrying the first teacher to go in space. Christa McAuliffe was planning to give lessons while in orbit. She and the rest of the crew never made it. Challenger broke up 73 seconds after launch in front of the television cameras. "Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," the NASA launch commentator said as pieces of the shuttle fell from the sky into the Atlantic. Salvage crews spent several weeks recovering pieces of the shuttle and carefully, bringing up the remains of the seven astronauts. Remains that could be identified were turned over to the families, while the rest were buried in a monument to the Challenger crew at Arlington Cemetery on May 20, 1986. Cultural and technical problems A presidential commission was convened to look into the incident, chaired by former attorney general and secretary of state William P. Rogers.

It included participation from Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) and NASA astronaut Sally Ride, among others. The commission talked about the technical causes of the accident , which was traced to cold weather degrading the seal on the boosters. Additionally, it brought to light cultural problems at NASA, such as failing to voice all problems to the launch decision team. The commission also said that the shuttle's proposed flight rate was unsustainable given the size of its workforce. NASA made technical changes to the shuttle and also worked to change the culture of its workforce in the wake of what happened with Challenger. The shuttle program resumed flights in 1988. After the Challenger wreckage was examined, the pieces were buried and sealed in abandoned Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where they remain today. Challenger's explosion changed the space shuttle program in several ways. Plans to fly other civilians in space (such as journalists) were shelved for 22 years, until Barbara Morgan , who was McAuliffe's backup, flew aboard Endeavour in 2007. Satellite launches were shifted from the shuttle to reusable rockets.

Additionally, astronauts were pulled off of duties such as repairing satellites, and the Manned Maneuvering Unit was not flown again, to better preserve their safety. Every January, NASA pauses to remember the last crew of Challenger, and the other crews lost in pursuing space, on a NASA Day of Remembrance . Additionally, Challenger has an educational legacy: members of the crews' families founded the Challenger Center for Space Science Education program, which brings students on simulated space missions. On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA faced its first shuttle disaster, the loss of the Challenger orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew. Here, Challenger's last crew – members of the STS-51L mission – stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of a launch dress rehearsal. They are (L to R) Teacher in Space Participant, Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka.

Credit: NASA The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986 National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986 The Challenger shuttle crew, of seven astronauts--including the specialties of pilot, aerospace engineers, and scientists-- died tragically in the explosion of their spacecraft during the launch of STS-51-L from the Kennedy Space Center about 11:40 a.m., EST, on January 28, 1986. The explosion occurred 73 seconds into the flight as a result of a leak in one of two Solid Rocket Boosters that ignited the main liquid fuel tank. The crewmembers of the Challenger represented a cross-section of the American population in terms of race, gender, geography, background, and religion. The explosion became one of the most significant events of the 1980s, as billions around the world saw the accident on television and empathized with any one of the several crewmembers killed. The spacecraft commander was Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Scobee.

He was born on May 19, 1939, in Cle Elum, Washington, and graduated from the public high school in Auburn, Washington, in 1957. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, training as a reciprocating engine mechanic but longing to fly. He took night courses and in 1965 completed a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona. This made it possible for Scobee to receive an officer's commission and enter the Air Force pilot training program. He received his pilot's wings in 1966 and began a series of flying assignments with the Air Force, including a combat tour in Vietnam. Scobee also married June Kent of San Antonio, Texas, and they had two children, Kathie R. and Richard W., in the early 1960s. He attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1972 and thereafter was involved in several test programs. As an Air Force test pilot Scobee flew more than 45 types of aircraft, logging more than 6,500 hours of flight time.

In 1978 Scobee entered NASA's astronaut corps and was the pilot of STS-41-C, the fifth orbital flight of the Challenger spacecraft, launching from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 6, 1984. During this seven-day mission the crew successfully retrieved and repaired the ailing Solar Maximum Satellite and returned it to orbit. This was an enormously important mission, because it demonstrated the capability that NASA had long said existed with the Space Shuttle to repair satellites in orbit. The pilot for the fatal 1986 Challenger mission was Michael J. Smith, born on April 30, 1945 in Beaufort, North Carolina. At the time of the Challenger accident a commander in the U.S. Navy, Smith had been educated at the U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1967, and received an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1968. From there he underwent aviator training at Kingsville, Texas, and received his wings in May 1969.

After a tour as an instructor at the Navy's Advanced Jet Training Command between 1969 and 1971, Smith flew A- 6 "Intruders" from the USS Kitty Hawk in Southeast Asia. Later he worked as a test pilot for the Navy, flying 28 different types of aircraft and logging more than 4,300 hours of flying time. Smith was selected as a NASA astronaut in May 1980, and a year later, after completing further training, he received an assignment as a Space Shuttle pilot, the position he occupied aboard Challenger. This mission was his first space flight. Judith A. Resnik was one of three mission specialists on Challenger. Born on April 5, 1949 at Akron, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. Marvin Resnik, a respected Akron optometrist, and Sarah Resnik. Brought up in the Jewish religion, Resnik was educated in public schools before attending Carnegie-Mellon University, where she received a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1970, and the University of Maryland, where she took at Ph.D. in the same field in 1977.

Resnik worked in a variety of professional positions with the RCA corporation in the early 1970s and as a staff fellow with the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, between 1974 and 1977. Selected as a NASA astronaut in January 1978, the first cadre containing women, Resnik underwent the training program for Shuttle mission specialists during the next year. Thereafter, she filled a number of positions within NASA at the Johnson Space Center, working on aspects of the Shuttle program. Resnik became the second American woman in orbit during the maiden flight of Discovery, STS-41-D, between August 30 and September 5, 1984. During this mission she helped to deploy three satellites into orbit; she was also involved in biomedical research during the mission. Afterward, she began intensive training for the STS-51- L mission on which she was killed. Ronald E. McNair was the second of three mission specialists aboard Challenger. Born on October 21, 1950 in Lake City, South Carolina, McNair was the son of Carl C.

McNair, Sr., and Pearl M. McNair. He achieved early success in the segregated public schools he attended as both a student and an athlete. Valedictorian of his high school class, he attended North Carolina A&T State University where in 1971 he received a B.S. degree in physics. He went on to study physics at MIT, where he specialized in quantum electronics and laser technology, completing his Ph.D. in 1977. As a student he performed some of the earliest work on chemical HF/DF and high pressure CO lasers, publishing pathbreaking scientific papers on the subject. McNair was also a physical fitness advocate and pursued athletic training from an early age. He was a leader in track and football at his high school. He also became a black belt in Karate, and while in graduate school began offering classes at St. Paul's AME Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also participated in several Karate tournaments, taking more than 30 trophies in these competitions. While involved in these activities McNair met and married Cheryl B. Moore of Brooklyn, New York, and they later had two children. After completing his Ph.D.

he began working as a physicist at the Optical Physics Department of Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, and conducted research on electro-optic laser modulation for satellite-to-satellite space communications. This research led McNair into close contact with the space program for the first time, and when the opportunity presented itself he applied for astronaut training. In January 1978 NASA selected him to enter the astronaut cadre, one of the first three Black Americans selected. McNair became the second Black American in space between Febrary 3 and 11, 1984, by flying on the Challenger Shuttle mission STS-41-B. During this mission McNair operated the maneuverable arm built by Canada used to move payloads in space. The 1986 mission on which he was killed was his second Shuttle flight. Ellison S. Onizuka, was the last of the three mission specialists. He had been born in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, on June 24, 1946, of Japanese-American parents. He attended the University of Colorado, receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering in June and December 1969, respectively.

While at the university he married Lorna Leido Yoshida of Hawaii, and the couple eventually had two children. He also participated in the Air Force R.O.T.C. program, leading to a commission in January 1970. Onizuka served on active duty with the Air Force until January 1978 when he was selected as a NASA astronaut. With the Air Force in the early 1970s he was an aerospace flight test engineer at the Sacramento Air Logistics Center. After July 1975 he was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as squadron flight test officer and later as chief of the engineering support section. When Onizuka was selected for the astronaut corps he entered into a one year training program and then became eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flights. He worked on orbiter test and checkout teams and launch support crews at the Kennedy Space Center for the first two Shuttle missions. Since he was an Air Force officer on detached duty with NASA, Onizuka was a logical choice to serve on the first dedicated Department of Defense classified mission.

He was a mission specialist on STS-51-C, taking place 24-27 Jan. 1985 on the Discovery orbiter. The Challenger flight was his second Shuttle mission. The last two members of the Challenger crew were not officially Federal government employees. Gregory B. Jarvis, a payload specialist, worked for the Hughes Aircraft Corp.'s Space and Communications Group in Los Angeles, California, and had been made available for the Challenger flight by his company. Jarvis had been born on August 24, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. He had been educated at the State University of New York at Buffalo, receiving a B.S. in electrical engineering (1967); at Northeastern University, Boston, where he received an M.S. degree in the same field (1969); and at West Coast University, Los Angeles, where he completed coursework for an M.S. in management science (1973). Jarvis began work at Hughes in 1973 and served in a variety of technical positions until 1984 when he was accepted into the astronaut program under Hughes' sponsorship after competing against 600 other Hughes employees for the opportunity.

Jarvis' duties on the Challenger flight had revolved around gathering new information on the design of liquid-fueled rockets. The last member of the crew was Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly in space. Selected from among more than 11,000 applicants from the education profession for entrance into the astronaut ranks, McAuliffe had been born on September 2, 1948, the oldest child of Edward and Grace Corrigan. Her father was at that time completing his sophomore year at Boston College, but not long thereafter he took a job as an assistant comptroller in a Boston department store and the family moved to the Boston suburb of Framingham. As a youth she registered excitement over the Apollo moon landing program, and wrote years later on her astronaut application form that "I watched the Space Age being born and I would like to participate." McAuliffe attended Framingham State College in her hometown, graduating in 1970. A few weeks later she married her longstanding boyfriend, Steven McAuliffe, and they moved to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area so Steven could attend Georgetown Law School. She took a job teaching in the secondary schools, specializing in American history and social studies.

They stayed in the Washington area for the next eight years, she teaching and completing an M.A. from Bowie State University, in Maryland. They moved to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1978 when Steven accepted a job as an assistant to the state attorney general. Christa took a teaching post at Concord High School in 1982, and in 1984 learned about NASA's efforts to locate an educator to fly on the Shuttle. The intent was to find a gifted teacher who could communicate with students from space. NASA selected McAuliffe for this position in the summer of 1984 and in the fall she took a year-long leave of absence from teaching, during which time NASA would pay her salary, and trained for an early 1986 Shuttle mission. She had an immediate rapport with the media, and the teacher in space program received tremendous popular attention as a result. It is in part because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on the Challenger that the accident had such a significant impact on the nation. For Further Reading: Joseph D. Atkinson, Jr., and Jay M.

Shafritz, The Real Stuff: A History of the NASA Astronaut Recruitment Program (New York: Praeger 1985). Daniel and Susan Cohen, Heroes of the Challenger (London: Archway Paperbacks, 1986). Grace Corrigan, A Journal for Christa: Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993). Robert E. Hohler, "I Touch the Future . . ." The Story of Christa McAuliffe (New York: Random House, 1986). William P. Rogers, et al., Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, five volumes (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1986). David Shayler, Shuttle Challenger (London: Salamander Books, 1987). Joseph J. Trento, with reporting by Susan B. Trento, Prescription for Disaster: From the Glory of Apollo to the Betrayal of the Shuttle (New York: Crown Pubs., 1987).

Staff of the Washington Post, Challengers: The Inspiring Life Stories of the Seven Brave Astronauts of Shuttle Mission 51-L (New York: Pocket Books, 1986). For further information email hq-histinfo@nasa.gov Updated October 22, 2004 Challenger Disaster 30 Years Ago Shocked the World, Changed NASA Challenger Disaster 30 Years Ago Shocked the World, Changed NASA By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | January 28, 2016 07:00am ET MORE The crew of the space shuttle Challenger's STS-51L mission, which ended in tragedy 73 seconds after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. From left to right: Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judy Resnik, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Michael Smith and Ellison Onizuka. Credit: NASA Thirty years ago today, NASA suffered a spaceflight tragedy that stunned the world and changed the agency forever. On Jan.

28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, killing all seven astronauts on board — including New Hampshire educator Christa McAuliffe, a civilian who had been selected to fly via NASA's "Teacher in Space" program. NASA astronauts had died on the job before — Apollo 1 crewmembers Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee were lost when a fire broke out inside their command module during a launchpad exercise on Jan. 27, 1967 — but the Challenger disaster was something different altogether. [ Remembering Challenger: NASA's 1st Shuttle Tragedy (Photos) ] "The whole country and the whole world were in shock when that happened, because that was the first time the United States had actually lost a space vehicle with crew on board," said former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao, who flew three space shuttle missions during his career (in 1994, 1996 and 2000), and also served as commander of the International Space Station from October 2004 through April 2005.

"It was even more shocking because Christa McAuliffe was not a professional astronaut," Chiao told Space.com. "If you lose military people during a military operation, it's sad and it's tragic, but they're professionals doing a job, and that's kind of the way I look at professional astronauts. But you're taking someone who's not a professional, and it happened to be that mission that got lost — it added to the shock." Changing the culture On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing seven astronauts and shocking the world. Here's how the Challenger accident occurred . Credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics artist Before Challenger launched on its ill-fated STS-51L mission, the space shuttle program had completed 24 missions in a row, starting with the April 1981 liftoff of the orbiter Columbia. That run of success bred a measure of complacency, Chiao said. "There was a 'launch fever' at the time, to try to get these missions off on time, and get more missions going," he said. That type of thinking played a significant role in the disaster, experts have concluded.

Challenger was lost because a rubber "O-ring" seal on the shuttle's right-hand solid rocket booster failed, allowing hot gas to escape and damage the orbiter's external fuel tank, as well as the gear that attached the booster to the tank. The O-ring failed in part because unusually cold temperatures on launch day caused the part to harden, investigators later determined. The temperature at liftoff time was 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) — 15 degrees F (8 degrees C) colder than any previous shuttle launch, NASA officials have said. [ ‪NASA Remembers Challenger (Video) ] "The decision to launch the Challenger was flawed. Those who made that decision were unaware of the recent history of problems concerning the O-rings and the joint, and were unaware of the initial written recommendation of the contractor advising against the launch at temperatures below 53 degrees Fahrenheit [11.7 degrees C] and the continuing opposition of the engineers at Thiokol [Morton Thiokol, which built the shuttle's solid rocket boosters] after the management reversed its position," investigators wrote in their report about the disaster, which is known as the Rogers Commission Report.

"They did not have a clear understanding of Rockwell's concern that it was not safe to launch because of ice on the pad," they added. (Rockwell International built the space shuttles for NASA.) "If the decision-makers had known all of the facts, it is highly unlikely that they would have decided to launch 51L on Jan. 28, 1986." In a way, the accident jolted these decision-makers awake, Chiao said. "A lot of things changed," he said. "The space shuttle had to be entirely re-certified. Every last little technical piece was re-analyzed." This work took nearly three years. The shuttle program was grounded until the orbiter Discovery blasted off on Sept. 29, 1988. The STS-51L Challenger flight crew receives emergency egress training in the slide wire baskets. They are (L to R) Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Teacher in Space Participant, Christa McAuliffe. Directly behind them are Mission Specialist Judy Resnik and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka.

Credit: NASA Fallen heroes The Challenger disaster claimed the lives of seven people: commander Francis "Dick" Scobee; pilot Mike Smith; mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ron McNair and Ellison Onizuka; and payload specialists McAuliffe and Greg Jarvis. They are still missed today, three decades later. "Thirty years just seems like yesterday," said Barbara Morgan, who served as McAuliffe's "Teacher in Space" backup and eventually made it to orbit herself in 2007, aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. "These people are still with me all the time, every day." Morgan said that McAuliffe and the "Teacher in Space" program had a huge impact, even though the STS-51L mission ended in tragedy. Teacher in space Christa McAuliffe (top), backup crew member Barbara Morgan (bottom) and payload specialist Greg Jarvis (back right) training in a KC-135 “vomit comet” in the 1980s. Credit: NASA JSC Image Repository and Terry Slezak "It was a really bad time for education.

A huge study had come out — a big document called 'A Nation at Risk,' and it talked about how bad our education system was, and it kind of painted all schools and all teachers with a big, broad, bad paintbrush," Morgan told Space.com. "There was a very popular saying at the time: 'Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach.'" But McAuliffe helped change that perception, she added. "Christa was just a wonderful teacher, a wonderful human being and a wonderful representative of our profession, and that made it so that it got turned around," Morgan said. "That's something that I'm really, really grateful for, and proud of." Just a few months after the Challenger accident, the fallen astronauts' family members set up a nonprofit called the Challenger Center for Space Science Education , which seeks to spark students' interest in science, technology and math by giving them exciting, hands-on experiences in these fields. The Challenger Center has reached nearly 4.5 million kids over the last 30 years, Morgan said. The nonprofit is a "living legacy to education, carrying on the education mission that Challenger was all about," she said.

"To me, that speaks volumes about what the crew was like and who they were, and it's reflected in their wonderful families as well." Keep exploring Sadly, Challenger was not the space shuttle program's only tragedy. On Feb. 1, 2003, the orbiter Columbia broke apart upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board. These crewmembers were commander Rick Husband; pilot William McCool; payload commander Michael Anderson; mission specialists David Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark; and payload specialist Ilan Ramon, from the Israel Space Agency. A piece of insulating foam had broken off Columbia's external fuel tank during the orbiter's launch more than two weeks earlier, damaging the shuttle's left wing. Investigators later determined that this damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to enter the wing's interior, leading to the shuttle's destruction.

(Some complacency had crept back into the shuttle program by 2003, Chiao said; foam shedding had been observed during previous shuttle launches but had not been deemed a potentially catastrophic phenomenon.) [ Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Explained (Infographic) ] Disasters such as the losses of Challenger and Columbia serve as reminders that spaceflight is an inherently difficult and risky proposition, Chiao said. "I don't think space travel will ever be as safe as commercial air travel, just because the amount of energy you have to put into a vehicle to accelerate it to orbital speed at 17,500 mph [28,160 km/h] — any time you have to put that much energy into a vehicle, and then take it out again to bring it back, there's going to be risk involved," he said. "Unfortunately, as much as we try to minimize and avoid these mishaps, every now and then we're going to have them happen," Chiao added. "What we have to do is, do what we can to learn from them, apply lessons learned and keep moving forward." NASA's path forward does not include the space shuttle; the agency grounded its remaining orbiters for good in July 2011.

American astronauts are currently dependent upon Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get to and from the International Space Station, though NASA has said it hopes private spacecraft developed by Boeing and SpaceX will be ready to take over this taxi service by late 2017. NASA's human spaceflight program, meanwhile, is focused on getting people to Mars sometime in the 2030s (with a mission to a captured asteroid in lunar orbit in the 2020s currently envisioned as a sort of stepping stone). The agency is developing a capsule called Orion and a huge rocket called the Space Launch System to make all this happen. "I know we're going to get there," Morgan said of Mars. "It's taken longer than I think we all wished, but it's exciting." You can learn much more about the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia tragedies here: BBC ON THIS DAY | 28 | 1986: Seven dead in space shuttle disaster 1986: Seven dead in space shuttle disaster The American space shuttle, Challenger, has exploded killing all seven astronauts on board.

The five men and two women - including the first teacher in space - were just over a minute into their flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida when the Challenger blew up. The astronauts' families, at the airbase, and millions of Americans witnessed the world's worst space disaster live on TV. The danger from falling debris prevented rescue boats reaching the scene for more than an hour. In 25 years of space exploration seven people have died - today that total has been doubled. President Ronald Reagan has described the tragedy as "a national loss". The Challenger's flight, the 25th by a shuttle, had already been delayed because of bad weather. High winds, then icicles caused the launch to be postponed from 22 January. But Nasa officials insist safety remains their top priority and there was no pressure to launch the shuttle today. The shuttle crew was led by Commander Dick Scobee, 46. Christa McAuliffe, 37, married with two children, was to be the first school teacher in space - picked from among 10,000 entries for a competition.

Speaking before the launch, she said: "One of the things I hope to bring back into the classroom is to make that connection with the students that they too are part of history, the space programme belongs to them and to try to bring them up with the space age." President Reagan has put off his state of the union address. He was meeting senior aides in the Oval Office when he learned of the disaster. We will never forget them US President Ronald Reagan He has called for an immediate inquiry into the disaster but he said the space programme would go on - in honour to the dead astronauts. Vice-President George Bush has been sent to Cape Canaveral to visit the victims' families. This evening, the president went on national television to pay tribute to the courage and bravery of the seven astronauts.

He said: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." When a national disaster unfolded live in 1986 - CNN.com When a national disaster unfolded live in 1986 By Tricia Escobedo , CNN Updated 5:01 PM ET, Thu March 31, 2016 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. JUST WATCHED 1986: Space Shuttle Challenger explosion 06:18 Story highlights It's been 30 years since the shuttle Challenger exploded, killing all 7 astronauts on board CNN was the only network to broadcast live coverage of the 1986 tragedy (CNN) Try to imagine a world with no social media, no smartphones, no Internet -- where a tragedy unfolds and you may not see video or hear about it until hours later. That's how it was, for the most part, in the 1980s.

Yet, when NASA's Challenger shuttle exploded on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew members, the catastrophe unfolded live on a little known 24-hour news channel: CNN. "I just remember seeing the cloud of smoke and what looked like fireworks coming out from the vehicle," recalled John Zarrella, who covered the launch at Florida's Kennedy Space Center for CNN . "We were all just looking at each other wondering 'OK, what's happened here?'" READ: Challenger memories, 30 years later Read More If you were an American kid in 1986, you probably remember exactly where you were: That's because so many classrooms were watching the shuttle launch live via a special NASA satellite feed to showcase what would have been the first American teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe. 30 yrs ago the Challenger exploded. Today CHS honors CHS teacher Christa McAuliffe who was killed #wmur @wmur9 pic.twitter.com/ODmPqj2IrK — Ray Brewer (@RayBrewerWMUR) January 28, 2016 This year marks 30 years since the tragedy unfolded on that cold January day.

Even though CNN's live coverage received only a passing mention at the time , it's clear today just how important this moment was in the early days of the information age. Today -- with the advent of numerous round-the-clock news channels, social media and smartphones in nearly everyone's hands -- it's expected that we'll witness historical moments live, or moments later. 30 years after the #SpaceShuttle #Challenger exploded, we remember & reflect. pic.twitter.com/37rJg5rsRx — UCF (@UCF) January 28, 2016 Yet the Challenger disaster came as the young cable channel struggled to figure out its mission. Video of CNN's behind-the-scenes coverage that day shows former CNN executive Bob Furnad working feverishly at the center of the noisy and cramped control room (the control room, anchor desk and newsroom were all beside each other) at one point shouting for everyone to shut up, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Working with a young staff with limited experience in putting live, breaking news on the air was amazing," Furnad recently said.

It wasn't common for CNN to turn the cameras on itself, but the network's promotions department just happened to be shooting in the newsroom that day, recalled former CNN staffer Robin Murphy. "It was hard holding it together while all of that was going on," she said. "It was chaos ... sad, tragic and monumental because of the obvious historic implications ... but, as usual, everyone pulled together. Proud to be a part of CNN that day, as sad as it was." That moment represented CNN's "coming of age," recalled former CNN operations director Steve Stahl. "After this coverage, I rarely had to explain to people what CNN was, to people who hadn't seen the network," said Stahl, a video tape operator at the time. Left side body panel of #Challenger on display in Forever Remember exhibit @NASAKennedy . Powerful sight. pic.twitter.com/wMheoqV1nf — Mark Lehman (@MarkLehman6) January 28, 2016 CNN recently recreated the energy and chaos of its 1986 newsroom as the Challenger disaster unfolded, in a 360° virtual reality experience (check it out below or on Facebook ).

NASA wouldn't experience another tragedy until the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003 , when a hole in the shuttle's heat shield caused it to disintegrate on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. Seven crew members also died in that accident. By then, there were three American 24-hour cable news stations -- CNN, Fox News and MSNBC -- and the Internet was widely available. A few years later, smartphones accelerated the information revolution. And today, it's hard to imagine a major incident not being captured on video and instantaneously distributed around the world within minutes. Photos: Photos: When space travel goes wrong When space travel goes wrong – Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule sank in an ocean landing in July 1961, after an explosion blew the escape hatch off prematurely. He swam from the capsule safely. Hide Caption Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion 25th Anniversary; Remembering Christa McAuliffe and Astronauts - ABC News ABC News Remembering the Challenger: 25 Years Ago, Space Shuttle Exploded After Liftoff By Karen Travers WATCH Challenger: Where Were You?

0 Shares Just before noon on January 28, 1986, people watched with excitement as the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from its Florida launch pad -- but that excitement and hope soon turned into horror. Just seventy-three seconds after liftoff, Challenger exploded, killing all seven astronauts on board. One of its crew members was Christa McAuliffe , a school teacher from New Hampshire who had won a national competition to become the first teacher in space. The goal was to boost interest in space exploration among American school children, many of whom were watching the Challenger's launch live on television or in person. "We were all outside and the kids were all standing around and all of sudden we saw the smoke break into the Y shape," said Kari Anna Roy, who was in fourth grade at an elementary school in Lutz, Fla. "The teachers immediately knew something was wrong and rushed us back inside." Roy said it took a while for her and her fellow classmates to grasp what happened. "There was a teacher on board and we had been very excited about it and talking about it in school for a long time," she said.

"It was a pretty devastating kind of thing especially for a school and we had all directly seen it happen right there." Kevin Baron, now a reporter for Stars and Stripes, said that his Orlando elementary school watched every shuttle launch. "We were in the lunchroom when the principal came in to tell us to turn on all the TVs," Baron said. "We walked outside into the field and the smoke trail was still coming down. We spent the rest of the day in school watching TV." Jen Vargas also watched the launch from her Orlando elementary school. "It was right before lunch, we were standing out there watching the shuttle go up. Usually it just goes straight up and it kind of veered off to the right. A lot of kids were confused, I was confused," she said. "We were crying and upset because we knew we had just seen the astronauts walk out and wave into the crowd and everything, and then we see them go up and the explosion happened. The Challenger Disaster, 25 Years Later The horrifying image of that massive fireball in the sky was replayed endlessly on television and burned into Americans' memories.

President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to deliver his State of the Union Address that night, but the White House postponed the speech and instead the president tried to comfort a grieving nation. "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ``slipped the surly bonds of earth'' to ``touch the face of God," Reagan said in what was perhaps the most memorable speech of his presidency. Reagan also spoke directly to the nation's school children. "I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons," he said. "The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them." The Challenger explosion not only dealt a major blow to the nation's psyche, but also to NASA. The shuttle program was grounded for nearly three years in the wake of the disaster as NASA investigated its cause. Ultimately, the investigation proved that the disaster could have been prevented.

John Pike, a national security analyst and space specialist, said NASA still has not recovered from the Challenger disaster. "I think it's clear that NASA today is a consequence of the Challenger accident, because prior to the accident NASA had a confidence about where it was going and its ability to get there that it simply doesn't have today. "NASA has no idea where it's going and is tremendously confused about how to get there." In 2004, after America lost a second shuttle, Columbia, President George W. Bush announced the retirement of the aging shuttle fleet by the end of the decade -- after nearly 30 years and more than 100 missions -- and the development of a new, more modern space exploration vehicle. The Challenger Disaster, 25 Years Later "Our current programs and vehicles for exploring space have brought us far, and they have served us well," Bush said. "It has been used to conduct important research and to increase the sum of human knowledge." Last year, President Obama announced a new direction for the nation's space program, scrapping plans to send another astronaut back to the moon and instead focusing efforts on reaching Mars.

Obama came under considerable fire in recent weeks for his decision to cancel the Bush administration's plan to send an American manned mission to the moon for a seventh time. Obama insisted he was 100 percent committed to NASA's mission and future. "For me, the space program has always captured an essential part of what it means to be an American -- reaching for new heights, stretching beyond what previously did not seem possible," Obama said last April to an audience of several hundred astronauts, engineers and members of the NASA community at the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Fla. "And so, as president, I believe that space exploration is not a luxury, it's not an afterthought in America's quest for a brighter future -- it is an essential part of that quest." Just two or three more space shuttle launches remain -- Discovery, which is scheduled to launch on Feb 24; and Endeavour, which is scheduled for April 19. A launch of Atlantis is timelined for June but is not yet funded. Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is scheduled to command the Endeavour mission. Just as President Reagan promised in the hours after the tragedy, Americans still remember the Challenger and its crew.

This week, the seven astronauts were honored at memorial services at Johnson Space Center in Houston and at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Today, there are nearly 50 Challenger Learning Centers worldwide, where hundreds of thousands of school children are encouraged to reach for the stars. 0 Shares Pictures: Space shuttle Challenger through the years - Orlando Sentinel Pictures: Space shuttle Challenger through the years Space shuttle Challenger disaster Associated Press This is the official NASA photo of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger mission 51L. All seven members of the crew were killed when the shuttle exploded during launch on Jan. 28, 1986. From front left, are: astronauts Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, and Ronald E. McNair. Rear left are: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis and Judith Resnick. This is the official NASA photo of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger mission 51L. All seven members of the crew were killed when the shuttle exploded during launch on Jan. 28, 1986. From front left, are: astronauts Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, and Ronald E. McNair.

Rear left are: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis and Judith Resnick. (Associated Press) NEWS SUMMARY - EDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1986 - NYTimes.com NEWS SUMMARY: EDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1986 Published: January 29, 1986 The Shuttle Explosion Space shuttle Challenger exploded a minute and a quarter after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Fla., apparently killing all seven astronauts on board. The space agency offered no immediate explanation for the accident, but suspended all future shuttle flights while it conducted an inquiry. [ Page A1, Column 6. ] Debris from Challenger's explosion was scattered so widely over the Atlantic Ocean that investigators may never recover enough of it to pin down the explosion's cause. But suspicions quicky focused on the craft's huge external fuel tank that carried more than 385,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and more than 140,000 gallons of liquid oxygen at liftoff. [ A1:5.

] A major space shuttle malfunction was reported by flight controllers soon after the Challenger's liftoff, according to a transcript of messages from the controllers on the ground to the Challenger's commander. ''Obviously a major malfunction,'' a controller said. This was followed by ''We have the report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.'' [ A1:1. ] America grieved for the astronauts and the nation came together in a moment of tragedy. Wherever they were when they heard the news, at work, at school or at home, Americans shared in each other's grief over the death of the seven astronauts, including one who had captured their hearts -Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire schoolteacher. [ A1:1. ] President Reagan postponed the State of the Union Address he had planned for last night, saying that the day was for mourning and remembering the Challenger's astronauts. The address was reschedued for next Tuesday. [ A9:1. ] International The Reagan Administration proposed for the first time publicly that it might be in the American national interest for the Chevron Oil Company to terminate the $2 billion annual business in Angola done by its subsidiary, Gulf Oil.

A State Department official said the Government was telling Chevron and other American companies in Angola that ''they are in the middle of a war zone, that they are in the middle of a rather hot political debate in this country.'' [ A15:4. ] Libya's leader has offered to help halt Arab terrorist operations in Europe if the United States promises not to attack Libya, Italy's Prime Minister, Bettino Craxi, said. He said Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's proposal was received in a message from the Maltese Prime Minister. [ A16:1. ] A 12.5 percent foreign aid increase for the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1, was requested of Congress by the Reagan Administration. If the increase is granted, the total foreign aid outlay would be $16.3 billion for fiscal 1987. [ A18:1. ] National 'Star Wars' shares top priority among Pentagon programs, equal to the five-year campaign to modernize nuclear missiles, Pentagon officials said. ''The highest priority'' status for President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative was ordered by Secretary of Defense Caspar W.

Weinberger in the annual document known as the ''Defense Guidance.'' [ A11:1. ] Social Security's financial condition has improved so much that it plans this week to repay $10.6 billion that it borrowed from the Medicare trust fund in 1982, Federal officials said. The repayment comes sooner than had been expected when the 1982 loan was made. [ D19:1. ] A retrial for Louisiana's Governor, his brother and three other defendants charged with racketeering and fraud was scheduled for March 10. The first trial ended Dec. 18 with a deadlocked jury. Federal District Judge Marcel Livaudais in New Orleans refused to acquit the defendants, rejecting arguments that the evidence presented in the first trial was flimsy. [ D20:5. ] Metropolitan Donald R. Manes went on leave as Queens Borough President and transferred his powers to his deputy, Claire Shulman. Mr. Manes, described by his lawyer as too ill to function in office, made the transfer of power to Mrs. Shulman in a single sentence that made no mention of the growing city corruption scandal in which he had been implicated but not charged with any crime.

[ B1:6. ] Dismissal of the Commissioner of Transportation, who has jurisdiction over the scandal-plagued Parking Violations Bureau, by Mayor Koch was disclosed by his advisers. One of the Mayor's aides said the Commissioner, Anthony R. Ameruso, had not been implicated in any way in the bribery and contract-rigging scandal at the Parking Bureau. [ B1:1. ] Coordination of corruption inquiries in New York City departments has been agreed on by Federal and city prosecutors to avoid overlapping operations. The prosecutors said the agreement would allow their offices to work jointly before deciding in which jurisdictions they would have the ''greatest likelihood'' of successful prosecutions. [ B1:1. ] Cartier Inc. pleaded guilty to a felony charge of falsifying business records in a scheme to avoid collecting sales taxes from its customers. The jewelry concern was ordered to pay $2.2 million in unpaid taxes, interest, fines and penalties. [ B3:5. ] Page D1 The Shuttle Explodes The Shuttle Explodes 6 IN CREW AND HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHER ARE KILLED 74 SECONDS AFTER LIFTOFF Thousands Watch Rain of Debris By William J.

Broad Special to The New York Times RELATED HEADLINES After the Shock, A Need to Share Grief and Loss How Could it Happen? Fuel Tank Leak Feared From the Beginning to the End Reagan Lauds 'Heroes' Cape Canaveral, Fla. Jan. 28 -- The space shuttle Challenger exploded in a ball of fire shortly after it left the launching pad today, and all seven astronauts on board were lost. The worst accident in the history of the American space program, it was witnessed by thousands of spectators who watched in wonder, then horror, as the ship blew apart high in the air. Flaming debris rained down on the Atlantic Ocean for an hour after the explosion, which occurred just after 11:39 A. M. It kept rescue teams from reaching the area where the craft would have fallen into the sea, about 18 miles offshore. It seemed impossible that anyone could have lived through the terrific explosion 10 miles in the sky, and officials said this afternoon that there was no evidence to indicate that the five men and two women aboard had survived. No Ideas Yet as to Cause There were no clues to the cause of the accident.

The space agency offered no immediate explanations, and said it was suspending all shuttle flights indefinitely while it conducted an inquiry. Officials discounted speculation that cold weather at Cape Canaveral or an accident several days ago that slightly damaged insulation on the external fuel tank might have been a factor. Americans who had grown used to the idea of men and women soaring into space reacted with shock to the disaster, the first time United States astronauts had died in flight. President Reagan canceled the State of the Union Message that had been scheduled for tonight, expressing sympathy for the families of the crew but vowing that the nation's exploration of space would continue. Killed in the explosion were the mission commander, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee; the pilot Comdr. Michael J. Smith of the Navy; Dr. Judith A. Resnik; Dr. Ronald E. McNair; Lieut. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka of the Air Force; Gregory B. Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. Mrs. McAuliffe, a high-school teacher from Concord, N.H., was to have been the first ordinary citizen in space.

After a Minute, Fire and Smoke The Challenger lifted off flawlessly this morning, after three days of delays, for what was to have been the 25th mission of the reusable shuttle fleet that was intended to make space travel commonplace. The ship rose for about a minute on a column of smoke and fire from its five engines. Suddenly, without warning, it erupted in a ball of flame. The shuttle was about 10 miles above the earth, in the critical seconds when the two solid-fuel rocket boosters are firing as well as the shuttle's main engines. There was some discrepancy about the exact time of the blast: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said they lost radio contact with the craft 74 seconds into the flight, plus or minus five seconds. Two large white streamers raced away from the blast, followed by a rain of debris that etched white contrails in the cloudless sky and then slowly headed toward the cold waters of the nearby Atlantic. The eerie beauty of the orange fireball and billowing white trails against the blue confused many onlookers, many of whom did not at first seem aware that the aerial display was a sign that something had gone terribly wrong.

There were few sobs, moans or shouts among the thousands of tourists, reporters, and space agency officials gathered on an unusually cold Florida day to celebrate the liftoff, just a stunned silence as they began to realize that the Challenger had vanished. Among the people watching were Mrs. McAuliffe's two children, her husband and her parents and hundreds of students, teachers and friends from Concord. "Things started flying around and spinning around and I heard some oh's and ah's, and at that moment I knew something was wrong," said Brian Ballard, the editor of The Crimson Review at Concord High School. "I felt sick to my stomach. I still feel sick to my stomach." Ships Searching the Area At an outdoor news conference held here this afternoon, Jesse w. Moore, the head of the shuttle program at NASA, said: "I regret to report that, based on very preliminary searches of the ocean where the Challenger impacted this morning, these searches have not revealed any evidence that the crew of the Challenger survived." Behind him, in the distance, the American flag waved at half-staff.

Coast Guard ships were in the area of impact tonight and planned to stay all night, with airplanes set to comb the area at first light for debris that could provide the clues to the catastrophe. Some material from the shattered craft was reported to be washing ashore on Florida beaches tonight, mostly the small heat-shielding tiles that protect the shuttle as it passes through the earth's atmosphere. Films of the explosion showed a parachute drifting toward the sea, apparently one that would have lowered one of the huge reusable booster rockets after its fuel was spent. Pending an investigation, Mr. Moore said at the news conference this afternoon, hardware, photographs, computer tapes, ground support equipment and notes taken by members of the launching team would be impounded. The three days of delays and a tight annual launching schedule did not force a premature launching, Mr. Moore said in answer to a reporter's question. 'Flight Safety a Top Priority' "There was no pressure to get this particular launch up," he said. "We have always maintained that flight safety was a top priority in the program." Several hours after the accident, Mr. Moore announced the appointment of an interim review team, assigned to preserve and identify flight data from the mission, pending the appointment of a formal investigating committee.

The members of the interim panel are Richard G. Smith, the director of the Kennedy Space Center; Arnold Aldridge, the manager of the National Space Transportation System, Johnson Space Center; William Lucas, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center; Walt Williams, a NASA consultant, and James C. Harrington, the director of Spacelab, who will serve as executive secretary. A NASA spokesman said a formal panel could be appointed as soon as Wednesday by Dr. William R. Graham, the director of the space agency. All American manned space launchings were stopped for more than a year and a half after the worst previous American space accident, in January 1967, when three astronauts were killed in a fire in an Apollo capsule on the launching pad. 'Hope We Go Today' This year's schedule was to have been the most ambitious in the history of the shuttle program, with 15 flights planned. For the Challenger, the workhorse of the nation's shuttle fleet, this was to have been the 10th mission. Today's launching had been delayed three times in three days by bad weather. The Challenger was to have launched two satellites and Mrs.

McAullife was to have broadcast two lessons from space to millions of students around the country. All day long, well after the explosion, the large mission clocks scattered about the Kennedy Space Center continued to run ticking off the minutes and seconds of a flight that had long ago ended. Long before liftoff this morning, skies over the Kennedy Space Center were clear and cold, reporters and tourists shivering in leather gloves, knit hats and down coats as temperatures hovered in the low 20's. Icicles formed as ground equipment sprayed water on the launching pad, a precaution against fire. At 9:07 A. M., after the astronauts were seated in the shuttle, wearing gloves because the interior was so cold, ground controllers broke into a round of applause as the shuttle's door, whose handle caused problems yesterday, which was closed. "Good morning, Christa, hope we go today," said ground control as the New Hampshire school teacher settled into the spaceplane. "Good morning," she replied, "I hope so, too." Those are her last known words. The liftoff, originally scheduled for a 9:38 A.

M., was delayed two hours by problems on the ground caused first by a failed fire-protection device and then by ice on the shuttle's ground support structure. The launching was the first from pad 39-B, which had recently undergone a $150 million overhaul. It had last been used for a manned launching in the 1970's. Just before liftoff, Challenger's external fuel tank held 500,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, which are kept separate because they are highly volatile when mixed. The fuel is used in the shuttle's three main engines. At 11:38 A. M. the shuttle rose gracefully off the launching pad, heading in to the sky. The shuttle's main engines, after being cut back slightly just after liftoff, a normal procedure, were pushed ahead to full power as the shuttle approached maximum dynamic pressure when it broke through the sound barrier. "Challenger, go with throttle up," said James D. Wetherbee of mission control in Houston about 11:39 A. M. "Roger," replied the commander, Mr.

Scobee, "go with throttle up." Those were the last words to be heard on the ground from the winged spaceplane and her crew of seven. As the explosion occurred, Stephen A. Nesbitt of Mission Control in Houston, apparently looking at his notes and not the explosion on his television monitor, noted that the shuttle's velocity was "2,900 feet per second, altitude 9 nautical miles, downrange distance 7 nautical miles." That is a speed of about 1,977 miles an hour, a height of about 10 statute miles and a distance down range of about 8 miles. The first official word of the disaster came from Mr. Nesbitt of Mission Control, who reported, "a major malfunction." He added that communications with the ship had failed 1 minute 14 seconds into the flight. "We have no downlink," he said, referring to communications from the Challenger. "We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded." His voice cracked. "The flight director confirms that," he continued.

"We're checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point." Tapes Showed Small Fire In the sky above the Kennedy Space Center, the shuttle's two solid-fuel rocket boosters sailed into the distance. The explosion, later viewed in slow-motion televised replays taken by cameras equipped with telescopic lenses, showed what appeared to be the start of a small fire at the base of the huge external fuel tank, followed by the quick separation of the solid rockets. A huge fireball then engulfed the shuttle as the external tank exploded. At the news conference, Mr. Moore would not speculate on the cause of the disaster. The estimated pint of impact for debris was 18 to 20 miles off the Florida coast, according to space agency officials. "The search and rescue teams were delayed getting into the area because of debris continuing to fall from very high altitudes, for almost an hour after ascent," said Mr. Nesbitt of Mission Control in Houston. Speaking at 1 P. M. in Florida, Lieut. Col. Robert W.

Nicholson Jr., a spokesman for the rescue operation, which is run by the Defense Department, said range safety radars near the Kennedy Space Center detected debris falling for nearly an hour after the explosion. "Anything that went into the area would have been endangered," he said in an interview. In addition, the explosion of the huge fuel supply would have created a cloud of toxic vapors. NASA officials said tonight that the hazardous gases presented no danger to land, but the Coast Guard was advising boats and ships to avoid the area. Not a Good Ditcher In an interview last year, Tommy Holloway, the chief of the flight director office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, talked about the possibility of a shuttle crash at sea. "This airplane is not a good ditcher," he said: "It will float O.K. if it doesn't break apart, and we have hatches we can blow off the top. But the orbiter lands fast, at 190 knots. You come in and stop in 100 yards or so. You decelerate like gangbusters, and anything in the payload bay comes forward.

We don't expect a very good day if it comes to that." On board Challenger was the world's privately owned communication satellite, the $100 million Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, which with its rocket boosters weighed 37,636 pounds. This morning, water froze on the shuttle service structure, used for fire fighting equipment and for emergency showers that technicians would use if they were exposed to fuel. The takeoff was delayed because space agency officials feared that during the first critical seconds of launching, icicles might fly off the service structure and damage the delicate heat-resistant tiles on the shuttle, which are crucial for the vehicle's re-entry through the earth's atmosphere.

Question: What spacecraft exploded in 1986, killing the 7 astronauts inside?
Answer: Challenger