Seven astronauts perished aboard NASA's Challenger space shuttle on January 28, 1986 . Thirty years later, the accident that occurred just 73 seconds after takeoff, more than 15 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean, remains the most memorable failure in the history of space exploration .
It was the first aeronautical catastrophe to unfold in full view of a live television broadcast. After a spectacular explosion, the compartment where the crew was traveling was shot intact in a ball of fire and continued to climb another five kilometers before falling. The fall lasted more than two minutes. There was no parachute to slow the descent, no exhaust system. To top it all, on board the Challenger was Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire teacher who had won the national "A Teacher in Space" contest, becoming the first civilian to fly a space mission .
The cause was quickly determined: Unusually low temperatures the night before launch caused porosity in the rubber rings that sealed a joint between booster rocket segments. The accident caused the paralysis of flights for 32 months. The next launch of a shuttle (STS-26R Discovery) would not occur until September 29, 1988.
