35 years ago NASA lost 7 astronauts when Challenger exploded By Jason Old | January 28, 2020 at 8:52 AM CST - Updated January 28 at 10:20 AM
(Gray News) - On this day 35 years ago, seven astronauts perished when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded over Cape Canaveral.
STS-51L broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff when a booster engine failed. After an investigation, the cause of the explosion was determined to be an o-ring failure in a solid rocket booster. Cold weather was a contributing factor. Four years before exploding over Kennedy Space Center, Space Shuttle Challenger creeps through the Florida fog on its way to Launch Pad 39A before its first liftoff on the STS-6 mission in 1982. (Source: NASA)