The Challenger disaster was the first major shuttle accident. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments. When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and an external tank, only the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. Five years later, space flights of the shuttle began when Columbia traveled into space on a 54-hour mission. In 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the world’s first reusable manned spacecraft, the Enterprise. WATCH: The Challenger Disaster on HISTORY Vault Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television. Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Finally, on January 28, the shuttle lifted off. She underwent months of shuttle training but then, beginning January 23, was forced to wait six long days as the Challenger‘s launch countdown was repeatedly delayed because of weather and technical problems.
McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies teacher from New Hampshire, won a competition that earned her a place among the seven-member crew of the Challenger. EST, on January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Christa McAuliffe is on her way to becoming the first ordinary U.S.
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