On this day in ...... 1986 (25 years ago today), as thousands watched at Cape Canaveral, Florida, a U.S. space shuttle exploded soon after its launch. The worst accident in NASA history, the Challenger explosion claimed the lives of all 7 astronauts, among them Christa McAuliffe, 37, "a high-school social studies teacher from New Hampshire," who'd won "a nationwide competition to be the first private citizen to fly aboard a space shuttle." (credit for photo of McAuliffe, standing 2d from left, along with fellow astronauts: left to right in front row, Commander Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, and Dr. Ronald McNair; standing, Lt. Col. Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Dr. Judith A. Resnik) No humans would again travel in U.S. space vehicles until September 1988.
(Prior January 28 posts are here, here, and here.)
