The Challenger Explosion
The Challenger explosion was one of the most tragic moments in recent history. Unfortunately, the Space Shuttle Challenger was on its 10th flight when disaster struck. On January 28th, 1986, Challenger broke apart only 73 seconds into its flight. The explosion killed all seven of the crew members aboard, including a schoolteacher. Christa McAuliffe had been selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the NASA Teacher in Space Project, but no one could have anticipated she’d meet such a tragic end.