CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NBC) – Monday, January 28 marks 33 years since the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds into its mission.
All seven astronauts on board died.
Among them, teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first civilian in space.
Challenger lifted off from the same Kennedy Space Center launch pad as Apollo 10, closer to the public viewing areas than other liftoff sites.
The astronauts’ families and millions of Americans watched on live television what was then the world’s worst space disaster.
Problems with faulty o-rings on the spacecraft’s solid-fuel rocket boosters are blamed for the explosion.
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