At 8.15 a.m. on Jan. 28, 1986, New Hampshire social-studies teacher Christa McAuliffe sat with her six fellow astronauts ahead of the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger from Kennedy Space Center ...

For millions of Americans, it was an event that would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives – on par with the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. On that chilly January day in 1986, ...

This cover image released by Avid Reader shows "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space" by Adam Higginbotham Avid Reader via AP ...

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched into unusually cold conditions. Engineers had raised concerns about rubber seals failing in low temperatures, but the launch proceeded anyway ...

ORLANDO, Fla. – The 1986 late January freeze is one many will never forget, and the consequences of it caused a historic tragedy. Not only did temperatures tumble to 22 degrees in Daytona Beach and 26 ...

Tuesday marks the 39th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy.The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986.New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe was one of the seven ...

The year 1986 was notable for two big disasters, both of them attributable to human error and bureaucratic negligence at competing super powers: the Chernobyl nuclear ...

A flag that survived the Challenger space shuttle explosion in 1986 will be permanently displayed at the Challenger Learning Center in Colorado Springs, offering visitors a tangible connection to one ...

When the Challenger space shuttle exploded a little over a minute after its launch in 1986, it pierced the dreams of millions about who watched the tragedy unfold live on television. It also ...

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. It occurred Feb. 1, 2003. For millions of Americans, it was an event that ...