Challenger was one of five National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space shuttle orbiters to fly in space, and the only shuttle as of 2002 lost in an accident. The shuttle was named after a nineteenth-century naval vessel that explored the...

On January 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger was destroyed by a technical malfunction approximately 72 seconds after lift-off. The explosion took the lives of all seven crew members: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S....

George H. W. Bush Remarks Announcing the Winner of the Teacher in Space Project Presented on July 19, 1985 Ronald Reagan Address to the Nation on the Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger Presented on January 28, 1986 The midair explosion of the...

Date of mission January 28, 1986 American astronauts On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts died in the midair explosion of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger. (A space shuttle is a craft that transports people and cargo between Earth and space.) Other...

Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-099) was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73...

THE EXPLOSION of the Challenger and the extinction of its crew prompt reflections, in a way that more common accidents do not, on hubris and human fallibility. People die in planes, trains, and cars every day; people die crossing the street, and climbing...

The destruction of the space shuttle Columbia on February 1--the oldest orbiter in the NASA fleet--and of its valiant crew, will assume an unshakable place in our collective memory. Unlike the Challenger in 1986, which burst on take-off before the wide eyes of...

Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan and her crew mates arrived in Florida on Monday for a few days of dress rehearsal in preparation for next month's launch of space shuttle Endeavour.Bad weather forced the seven astronauts to arrive in a jet normally used for simulating shuttle landings...

A record-setting daredevil and the first American woman in space are among five people slated for induction Saturday to the National Aviation Hall of Fame.Steve Fossett, 63, of Beaver Creek, Colo., holds world records in ballooning and with powered aircraft.In 2002, he became the first...