space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, killing all seven crew members. Two O-rings in the right solid rocket booster failed on launch due to ...

On that chilly January day in 1986, students and teachers across the nation waited in awe and wonder, primed to watch and learn from the first teacher in space ... shuttle’s right solid rocket ...

The crewed shuttle mission for ... the first “civilians” in space. A NASA investigation later found that cold weather and faulty O-rings on the rocket’s booster were to blame for the tragedy.

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Space Shuttle ... after a failure in the shuttle’s right solid rocket booster. Americans were well ...