Thirty years ago on January 28, seven astronauts were killed when the Challenger space shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after launch. One of those seven astronauts was Christa McAuliffe.

Icons of space flight they undoubtedly are, but the shuttle programme has been marked by very public tragedy. On 28 January 1986, Challenger was set to carry the first American civilian into space.

William Ray Lucas, who led the NASA facility that shouldered much of the blame for the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, has died. Lucas was 102. Lucas died Monday at his home in ...