1. Space Shuttle Challenger’s Jan. 28, 1986, launch was its 10th launch. Overall the shuttle, spent 62 days, 7 hours, 56 minutes and 22 seconds in space, CBS News reported, after being first launched in April 1983.
On board were astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith, Francis (Dick) Scobee, Ronald McNair and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, the “Today” show reported.
Scobee was the commander of the mission. His widow still remembers that day and it’s one that she will never forget.
“The media froze our grief in newspapers and TV clips,” June Scobee Rodgers told “Today.” “It was so unbearable.”
But she knew that space travel came with risks.
“We talked about those risks, and he was willing to take those risks,” she remembered.
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Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - This photo provided by NASA shows the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger mission 51L. All seven members of the crew were killed when the shuttle exploded during launch on Jan. 28, 1986. Front row from left are Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, and Ronald E. McNair. Front row from left are Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, and Judith Resnik. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger NASA lost seven of its own on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, when a booster engine failed, causing the Shuttle Challenger to break apart just 73 seconds after launch. In this photo from Jan. 9, 1986, the Challenger crew takes a break during countdown training at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. (NASA/NASA)
Space Shuttle Challenger Right: Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, McAuliffe, Ronald E. McNair, and Michael J. Smith in the payload bay of the full
fuselage space shuttle trainer at JSC. (NASA/NASA)
Space Shuttle Challenger This Sept. 26, 1985 photo made available by NASA shows astronaut Sharon Christa McAuliffe. The high school teacher from Concord, N.H., never got to teach from space. She perished during the 1986 launch of shuttle Challenger, along with her six crewmates. (NASA via AP) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Sept. 13, 1985 file photo, Christa McAuliffe tries out the commander's seat on the flight deck of a shuttle simulator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers turned astronauts on the International Space Station will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes. (AP Photo) (RC/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 27, 1986 file picture, the crew members of space shuttle Challenger flight 51-L, leave their quarters for the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. From foreground are commander Francis Scobee, Mission Spl. Judith Resnik, Mission Spl. Ronald McNair, Payload Spl. Gregory Jarvis, Mission Spl. Ellison Onizuka, teacher Christa McAuliffe and pilot Michael Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 file photo, four crew members of the space shuttle Challenger walk from their quarters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, en route to the launch pad. From foreground are pilot Mike Smith, school teacher Christa McAuliffe, mission specialist Ellison Onizuka and payload specialist Gregory Jarvis. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers turned astronauts on the International Space Station will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (STEVE HELBER/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The Space Shuttle Challenger hatch that was causing a delay in the launch of the "Teacher in Space" flight is pictured on Jan. 27, 1986. First there was a latching and sealing problem, and then the white room crew could not remove the handle, right center on hatch. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky) (Ed Kolenovsky/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger A technician uses a drill as he tries to remove a screw holding the handle to the Space Shuttle Challenger hatch, Jan. 27, 1986. The handle problem was causing a delay in launching the "Teacher in Space" flight. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky) (Ed Kolenovsky/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger Teacher Christa McAuliffe smiles after she was suited up for her space flight at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, Jan. 27, 1986. At rear is the hatch McAuliffe entered the space shuttle Challenger which is scheduled for launch. (AP Photo) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 picture, the space shuttle Challenger lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. shortly before it exploded with a crew of seven aboard. (AP Photo/Thom Baur) (Thom Baur/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 file photo, the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center, in Fla. All seven crew members died in the explosion, which was blamed on faulty o-rings in the shuttle's booster rockets. Bob Ebeling had spent three decades filled with guilt over not stopping the explosion of Challenger, but found relief in the weeks before his death Monday, March 21, 2016, at age 89. NPR reports Ebeling had been a booster rocket engineer at a NASA contractor during the launch. He tried to convince them to postpone it, saying the cold temperatures could cause the shuttle to explode. (AP Photo/Bruce Weaver, File) (Bruce Weaver/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 file photo the space shuttle Challenger is destroyed by an explosion shortly after it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the accident which killed all seven crew members. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File) (Steve Helber/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 28, 1986 file picture, spectators at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. react after they witnessed the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. (AP Photo/File) (PS/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 1, 1986 file photo, customer David Kimball of Manchester, N.H. reacts as store employees Lynne Beck of Salisbury, N.H. and Lisa Olson, far right, of Manchester, N.H., embrace each other as they watch the Houston memorial service for the astronauts who died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion on a television in a store in Concord, N.H. Pictured on the television screen are family members of one of the astronauts. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) (Charles Krupa/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The remains of one of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger are carried past an honor guard on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware on Tuesday, April 29, 1986. The remains of the seven astronauts killed in the January Shuttle explosion were brought to the base to be prepared for burial. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) (Amy Sancetta/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger The remains of one crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Challenger are carried to a hearse on the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware on Tuesday, April 30, 1986. The remains of all seven astronauts killed in the Shuttle explosion on January 28, were taken to Dover AFB for burial preparation. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) (Amy Sancetta/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger A delegation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 10131, Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying seven wreaths, ride a boat into the Atlantic ocean, Monday, Feb. 3, 1986 to drop the wreaths in honor of the seven crew members killed in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) (Terry Renna/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger Richard Greene adjusts a letter as he sets up a billboard outside a Concord, New Hampshire motel on Thursday, Jan. 30, 1986. Teacher Christa McAuliffe, who taught at Concord High School, was a crewmember aboard the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger. (AP Photo/Peter Southwick) (Peter Southwick/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger The giant salvage ship, the Stener Workhorse comes to port as storm clouds darken overhead and waves crash against the jetties at Port Canaveral, Florida on Friday, March 14, 1986. The Stener Workhorse was one of the largest ships being used for salvage work in an area where Space Shuttle Challenger crashed into the sea following the explosion that ripped it apart on January 28th. (AP Photo/Thom Baur) (Thom Baur/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this 1986 file photo, workers transport debris from the space shuttle Challenger, recovered after the Jan. 28, 1986 explosion, to a storage site on the Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/James Neihouse) (James Neihouse/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger This is a view of the nose section of the Space Shuttle Challenger as seen by reporters and photographers at the Kennedy Space Center, April 9, 1986, Fla. Reports are that the nose of the craft including the crew compartment hit the Atlantic Ocean after the January 28th shuttle explosion. (AP Photo/Bruce Weaver) (Bruce Weaver/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger Workmen at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, continue the process of storing the debris recovered from the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, Jan. 20, 1987, Cape Canaveral, Fla .The section being lowered into the unused Minuteman missile silo is part of the left side of the orbiter. The first anniversary of the accident will be on Wednesday of next week. (AP Photo/James Neihouse) (James Neihouse/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger ADVANCE FOR USE TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2011 AND THEREAFTER - FILE - In this April 9, 1986 file picture, National Transportation Safety Board investigator John White kneels in front of the nose cone of the Challenger's right solid rocket booster at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Pool) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The vertical stabilizer or tail section of the Space Shuttle Challenger is seen on its side in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building, Wednesday, April 9, 1986, Kennedy Space Center. The Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff on January 28th killing seven astronauts on board. (AP Photo/Bruce Weaver) (Bruce Weaver/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Jan. 31, 1986 file photo, Coast Guardsmen prepare to hoist the fulcrum of one of the space shuttle Challenger's solid rocket boosters onto the deck of U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas during salvage operations off the Florida coast. The Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff on Jan. 28. (AP Photo/File) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The front landing gear of the Space Shuttle Challenger as well as other structural components can be seen in this photograph taken in the storage area of the Kennedy Space Centers logistics building on June 12, 1986. NASA has recovered 35 percent of the shuttle, 50 percent of the solid rocket boosters and 15 percent of the external fuel tank. A NASA poster of the Shuttle is visible in the background of this photo. (AP Photo/James Neihouse) (James Neihouse/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger This is the portion of the right hand solid rocket booster at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 12, 1986, which is being blamed for the explosion on January 28, which destroyed the Space Shuttle Challenger and killed the 7 crew members. Visible in the lower left is the section which burned through and allowed hot gases to escape and burn into the External Fuel Tank. (AP Photo/James Neihouse) (James Neihouse/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The right wing of the space shuttle Challenger as it lies in a warehouse on the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 9, 1986. Shown in the background are representatives of the media who were allowed to view the wreckage for the first time. (AP Photo/Burce Weaver) (Burce Weaver/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - This Jan. 28, 1986 photo provided by NASA shows icicles on hand rails of the space shuttle Challenger's service structure on the morning of its final launch from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The cold weather affected O-ring seals on a solid rocket booster, causing the explosion during launch. (AP Photo/NASA) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger A Morton Thiokol worker washes a tarp covering a portion of a solid rocket booster that was retrieved from the floor of the Atlantic by the salvage ship, the Stena Workhorse, Wednesday, March 20, 1986, Port Canaveral, Fla. The segment might provide clues to NASA scientists as to the cause of the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger if the segment proves to be right hand booster. (AP Photo/Thom Baur) (Thom Baur/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger John White, National Transportation Safety Board inspector, stands near the left side of the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Challenger, Wednesday, April 10, 1986, Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The press was allowed to view the Challenger wreckage for the first time. (AP Photo) (AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger FILE - In this Feb. 11, 1986 file photo, former astronaut Neil Armstrong, a member of the presidential panel investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, listens to testimony before the commission in Washington, as David Acheson, a commission member, listens in the background. When Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, he captured the attention and admiration of millions of people around the world. Now fans of Armstrong and of space exploration have a chance to own artifacts and mementos that belonged to the modest man who became a global hero. The personal collection of Armstrong, who died in 2012, will be offered for sale in a series of auctions handled by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File) (Scott Stewart/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger Richard Feynman, a Nobel physicist and a member of the presidential commission investigating the Space Shuttle accident, shows reporters a demonstration he tried putting a piece of the shuttle "O-ring" in a cup of ice water for a few seconds, causing as he said "No resilience in this particular material" when the temperature reached 32 degrees, Feb. 11, 1986. Feynman raised the possibility that cold, pre-launch weather might have figured in the failures in the seal. Feynman talked to reporters at a lunch break of the commission meeting in Washington. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart) (Scott Stewart/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 photo, visitors look over display cases at the "Forever Remembered" exhibit and memorial for the astronauts that perished on the Columbia and Challenger space shuttles, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) (John Raoux/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger This Tuesday, July 21, 2015 photo shows a side body panel of space shuttle Challenger, left, and the cockpit windows of Columbia, right, displayed at the Forever Remembered exhibit and memorial for the astronauts that perished on the two shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) (John Raoux/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015, photo, the left side body panel of space shuttle Challenger is displayed in a glass case at the "Forever Remembered" exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Challenger's wreckage _ all 118 tons of it, salvaged from the Atlantic _ was buried in a pair of former missile silos, 90 feet deep. The chamber containing this particular fuselage section had never been opened _ until the exhibit began to take shape. (AP Photo/John Raoux) (John Raoux/AP)
Space Shuttle Challenger The names of the seven astronauts lost in the Challenger accident, engraved on the Space Mirror Memorial at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (NASA/NASA)
2. It was initially supposed to be a test vehicle. The building of the shuttle was started by Rockwell Internation in November 1975, then was sent to Lockheed Martin for structural testing in April 1978, Space.com reported.
It went through 11 months of vibration testing on equipment that would simulate all phases of flight.
In 1979, the shuttle was changed from a test vehicle to one that would be used to go to space, joining the fleet with Columbia. For two years, crews retrofitted the shuttle with stronger wings, added a true crew cabin instead of a simulated one and installed new displays. Work on the changes was done in October 1981.
3. Challenger’s first flight was supposed to be on Jan. 20, 1983, but there was a hydrogen leak in the No. 1 main engine aft compartment discovered in December. A second test on Jan. 25, 1983, found cracks in the engine causing leaks. No. 1 engine had to be replaced, but No. 2 and No. 3 were deemed safe, according to Space.com.
Another delay was caused by an issue with a satellite the shuttle was supposed to carry into space, so the first launch for the Challenger was on April 4, 1983.
4. Challenger hosted the first spacewalk for a shuttle on April 7, 1983. It also had the first American female in space, Sally Ride in June 1983, and the first Black astronaut, Guion Bluford, in Aug. 1983, according to Space.com.
It also was the first night launch and the first operational Spacelab flight.
5. The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. The Florida morning was cold, with temperatures dropping below freezing. Some engineers were worried about the cold and its effects on the seals on the solid rocket boosters. But despite the concerns, it launched with the first teacher to go into space, Christa McAuliffe, who was planning to teach from the shuttle.
A nation and world watched in shock as the shuttle exploded live on their televisions.
“Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously, a major malfunction,” a NASA launch commentator said as pieces of the spacecraft rained down into the ocean.
Hours after the disaster, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation, saying the crew “ ... slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.” He also addressed the nation’s schoolchildren who watched the explosion live. He also pledged that the space missions would continue.
“Slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.”
President Ronald Reagan paraphrasing the poem “High Flight” when addressing the nation 35 years ago today after the #Challenger explosion.#IAmUp
Crews salvaged the pieces of the shuttle, which were reassembled for the investigation into what happened. Remains from the seven astronauts were also recovered and what could be identified were returned to their families; the rest were buried at the Challenger Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery on May 20, 1986.
Most of the wreckage was buried and sealed in abandoned Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, according to Space.com. Some of the debris is on display at Kennedy Space Center’s exhibit “Forever Remembered” which not only honors the Challenger, but also the Space Shuttle Columbia.
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