The space shuttle Challenger awaits liftoff from Pad B at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 on Jan. 28, 1986. The primary cargo was the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. Also on board was another Spartan free-flying module which was to observe Halley's Comet.
Crew members of Challenger mission STS-51-L stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. From left to right they are: 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.
A happy, confident crew of the STS 51-L mission walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Pad 39 B to board the Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. Shown from front to back: Cmdr. Dick Scobee; Mission specialists Judith A. Resnik and Ronald E. McNair; Pilot Michael J. Smith; Payload specialist Christa McAuliffe; Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka and Payload specialist Gregory Jarvis.
The space shuttle Challenger lifts off the pad at ll:38 a.m. EST, on Jan. 28, 1986. At the bottom of the solid fuel rocket booster, just to the right of the right wing, a black plume of smoke can be seen. Investigators believe this was the first indication of a problem with the mission.
Challenger lifts off from a launch pad B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 28, 1986. STS 51-L had been scheduled six times earlier, but was delayed because of technical problems and bad weather.
View of the liftoff of the shuttle Challenger for STS 51-L mission, Jan. 28, 1986.
The solid fuel rocket booster of the space shuttle Challenger starts to explode over the Kennedy Space Center following its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 28, 1986. One minute, 13 seconds after liftoff, the vehicle exploded and was destroyed, killing its crew of seven.
The 25th mission in the space shuttle program, flown by the Challenger, ended tragically with the loss of its seven crew members and destruction of the vehicle when it exploded shortly after launch on Jan, 28, 1986.
A picture taken by by NASA at 59.249 seconds into the flight shows a well-defined intense plume on the side of Challenger's right hand solid rocket booster.
A NASA image of Challenger 60.500 seconds after liftoff shows evidence of flame from the right hand solid rocket booster.
A NASA photo taken at 73.226 seconds into the flight shows an explosion near the solid rocket booster forward attachment.
At approximately 1 minute, 13.14 seconds after launch, this photo shows a plume in the lower part of the right hand solid rocket booster.
The booster rockets from the space shuttle Challenger fly off 76.425 seconds after lift off on Jan. 28, 1986 from Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Seventy-three seconds into the launch on Jan, 28, 1986, the flame from the solid rocket booster burns through the skin of the external fuel tank and space shuttle Challenger, with its seven-person crew, explodes into a huge ball of fire. The two solid rocket boosters continue to burn and blast away across the Atlantic Ocean.
A solid fuel rocket booster disappears behind the contrail of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger Jan. 28, 1986, over Kennedy Space Center as debris from the orbiter begins to fall to earth.
Challenger was just over a minute into its flight, travelling at nearly 2,000 mph at a height of 10 miles, when it was suddenly enveloped in a red, orange and white fireball as thousands of tons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel exploded.
The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle. The cause of explosion was determined to be an O-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster. Cold weather was determined to be a contributing factor.