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The Challenger was a space shuttle on a mission to launch the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. It was also the first shuttle to include two U.S women astronauts one of which was Christa McAuliffe the first teacher to go into space. The challenger sadly exploded just over a minute after takeoff.

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1986: Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Live On CNN

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A Primary Source is something like someones journal, an artifact, a recording or someone who experienced it first hand.

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President Reagan's Address to the Nation the day of the explosion.

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA History Office

Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
Address to the Nation, January 28, 1986

by President Ronald W. Reagan

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering.

Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.

We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

[Note: The President spoke at 5 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White House. His address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television.]

Updated June 7, 2004
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
For further information E-mail hq-histinfo@nasa.gov

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA History Office Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger Address to the Nation, January 28, 1986 by President Ronald W. Reagan Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans.

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A Secondary Source is information that was created by someone who didn't experience it first hand or was written way after it happend.

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Article written about the Challenger Explosion in 2010

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The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft's 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space. It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to seal the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. The tragedy and its aftermath received extensive media coverage and prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions.

Space Shuttle Program

In 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the world's first reusable manned spacecraft, known as the space shuttle.

Five years later, flights began when the space shuttle Columbia embarked on a 54-hour mission. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and its main engines, the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth.

When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments.

Did you know? After "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliffe was killed during the 1986 Challenger disaster, her backup, a former math teacher named Barbara Morgan, served as a mission specialist during a 2007 flight of the shuttle Endeavor.

Challenger, NASA's second space shuttle to enter service, embarked on its maiden voyage on April 4, 1983, and made a total of nine voyages prior to 1986.

That year, it was scheduled to launch on January 22 carrying a seven-member crew that included Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies instructor from New Hampshire who had earned a spot on the mission through NASA's Teacher in Space Program. After undergoing months of training, she was set to become the first ordinary American citizen to travel into space.
READ MORE: Big Bird Nearly Rode on the Disastrous Challenger Mission
Challenger Disaster

The mission's launch from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was delayed for six days due to weather and technical problems.

The morning of January 28 was unusually cold, and engineers warned their superiors that certain components-particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters-were vulnerable to failure at low temperatures. However, these warnings went unheeded, and at 11:39 a.m. Challenger lifted off.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including the families of McAuliffe and the other astronauts on board, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television.

Within seconds, the spacecraft broke apart and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew, traumatizing the nation and throwing NASA's shuttle program into turmoil.
READ MORE: Challenger Explosion: How Groupthink and Other Causes Led to the Tragedy
Rogers Commission

Shortly after the disaster, President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to develop future corrective measures. Headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, the commission included former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager.

Their investigation revealed that the O-ring seal on Challenger's solid rocket booster, which had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed. Flames then broke out of the booster and damaged the external fuel tank, causing the spacecraft to explode and disintegrate.

The commission also found that Morton Thiokol, the company that designed the solid rocket boosters, had ignored warnings about potential issues. NASA managers were aware of these design problems but also failed to take action.

Famously, scientist Richard Feynman, a member of the commission, demonstrated the O-ring flaw to the public using a simple glass of ice water.

Aftermath of the Challenger Explosion

After the accident, NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of the shuttle's features.

Flights began again in September 1988 with the successful launching of Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, including the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction of the International Space Station.

On February 1, 2003, a second shuttle disaster rocked the United States when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry, killing all seven people aboard. While missions resumed in July 2005, the space shuttle program ended in 2011.

Ten years after the Challenger disaster, two large pieces from the spacecraft washed ashore on a Florida beach. The remaining debris is now stored in a missile silo at Cape Canaveral.
READ MORE: Space Exploration: Timeline and Technologies

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The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft's 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space.

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Article on the Challenger Exploding

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space shuttle challenger explodes; newspaper front page includes photo of crew members

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Space Shuttle Challenger explodes; newspaper front page includes photo of crew members - Newspapers.com

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Video made 33 years after Challenger Exploded

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WEBVTT ERIN: TODAY MARKS A SOMBER ANNIVERSARY HERE IN THE GRANITE STATE. IT HAS NOW BEEN 33 YEARS SINCE THE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER. THE SHUTTLE EXPLODED JUST 73 SECONDS AFTER TAKING OFF FROM CAPE CANAVERAL ON JANUARY 28 1986. CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CHRISTA MCAULIFFE WAS AMONG THE CREW MEMBERS KILLED. SHE WAS THE FIRST CIVILIAN TEACHER EVER SELECTED FOR A SPACE MISSION. HER LESSONS WERE FINALLY TAUGHT IN SPACE LAST YEAR. WE'RE ASKING IF YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE WHEN THE SHUTTLE EXPLODED. FRANK WRITES, WAS WATCHING LIVE COVERAGE AND I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT I WAS SEEING. AND THERESA WRITES, I WAS SITTING ON THE FLOOR PLAYING WITH MY 8 MONTH OLD DAUGHTER AND WATCHING IT UNFOLD. IT WAS HORRIFYING AND SAD. HAPPENED ON MY 24TH BIRTHDAY. YOU CAN SHARE YOUR REFLECT

Monday is the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy.>> NH Chronicle special on 30-year anniversaryThe shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986.New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe was among the crew members killed on the Challenger.She was the first civilian teacher ever chosen for a space mission.McAuliffe's lost lessons were finally taught in space in 2018. Astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold performed some of experiments from the International Space Station.

Monday is the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy.
>> NH Chronicle special on 30-year anniversary
The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff on Jan. 28, 1986.

New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe was among the crew members killed on the Challenger.

She was the first civilian teacher ever chosen for a space mission.

McAuliffe's lost lessons were finally taught in space in 2018. Astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold performed some of experiments from the International Space Station.

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Monday marks 33 years since Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy

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WEBVTT ERIN: TODAY MARKS A SOMBER ANNIVERSARY HERE IN THE GRANITE STATE. IT HAS NOW BEEN 33 YEARS SINCE THE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER DISASTER. THE SHUTTLE EXPLODED JUST 73 SECONDS AFTER TAKING OFF FROM CAPE CANAVERAL ON JANUARY 28 1986. CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER CHRISTA MCAULIFFE WAS AMONG THE CREW MEMBERS KILLED.