January 28 marked 40 years since the Challenger space shuttle exploded 73 seconds after lift-off, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members. The night before take off, a cold wave swept through Florida and by morning, the launch pad was covered in a layer of ice. The weather caused the shuttle’s O-rings to become highly brittle and because they couldn’t expand to accommodate the adjoining parts, hot exhaust gas was able to move past them and set the rocket’s fuel tank ablaze. The main cabin, along with the wings and other shuttle parts, continued upward after the explosion and then fell into the Atlantic Ocean. The explosion became one of the greatest tragedies in American space history.
To order photos from this page click here
