Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

Seven astronauts lost their lives in the Challenger accident, an explosion that occurred shortly after the Challenger space shuttle orbiter was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 28, 1986.

Shuttle mission 51-L's main objective was to launch the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-B). A small satellite called Spartan Halley, which was to be released by Challenger and retrieved two days after watching Halley's Comet when it made its closest approach to the Sun, was also carried aboard.

Christa McAuliffe, a teacher in space from Concord, New Hampshire, who won a national screening that started in 1984, received the most attention from the crew. McAuliffe was tasked with teaching children for the next nine months after conducting at least two classes from space.