On Jan. 28, 1986 — 40 years ago Wednesday — America watched in horror as the nation’s first civilian space traveler and six NASA astronauts died in the explosion of the shuttle Challenger. Challenger ...

Main engine exhaust, solid rocket booster plume and an expanding ball of gas from the external tank is visible seconds after the space shuttle Challenger accident on Jan. 28, 1986. "Flight controllers ...

At least two Challenger astronauts are believed to have survived the shuttle's explosion, enduring a harrowing 2-minute, 45-second descent before impact ...

Forty years ago today, Americans were stunned, shocked and saddened when the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on a cold, cloudless day in Florida. A booster leak ignited the ...

The crew was made up of five astronauts, two payload specialists and one teacher (Image: AFP) On the morning of January 28, 1986, millions of viewers around the globe were transfixed by their ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — January 28, 1986, remains one of the most tragic moments in America’s spaceflight history. After days of delays, Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at ...

Forty years ago, the NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. Among the seven crew members were five NASA astronauts, as well as a payload ...

Forty years ago, a space shuttle exploded. A teacher and her crewmates lost their lives. A generation of schoolchildren watched it happen live. I was one of them. I was 10 when the Challenger ascended ...

On Jan. 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. All seven crew members on board were killed. The disaster was one of the most significant events in NASA history, ...

Seven astronauts were killed in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster. Because a teacher was aboard, millions of schoolchildren watched the event live in school. Forty years later, many of those ...