On this day in history, January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger, scheduled for a routine launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, exploded after just 73 seconds of flight, killing all seven Americans on board.
The disaster shocked the nation and caused an immediate pause in the space shuttle program.
The cause of the disaster was found to be the failure of redundant primary and secondary O-rings at a gasket on the shuttle's right solid rocket booster (SRB).
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While the mission on that fateful day in 1986 was supposed to be like any other routine mission, unusually cold temperatures caused the external tank to explode seconds after liftoff, causing the orbiter to disintegrate and the spacecraft to explode, according to The NASA.
In addition to highly experienced astronauts, Challenger had a special passenger on board: Professor Christa McAuliffe.
The space shuttle Challenger lifts off on January 28, 1986. Carrying seven crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after launch, killing everyone on board. (Bob Pearson/AFP via Getty Images)
She was a social studies teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, chosen from among 10,000 others who applied to be the first private citizen in space, according to Britannica.
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In his application, McAuliffe said he would keep a journal about his experience and would include sections about his training, the flight experience and his feelings about returning to Earth.
Apparently, one of the reasons McAuliffe was chosen was his teaching experience and the way he could connect with kids across the country.
This November 1985 file provided by NASA shows the crew of the US space shuttle Challenger. Front row, left to right: astronauts Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair; back row, from left: Ellison Onizuka, teacher Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis and Judith Resnik. (NASA/AFP via Getty Images)
And that's why, on launch day, dozens of students from schools across the country watched a teacher launch into space for the first time.
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It was an unfortunate time for young children to witness this particular launch, something that worried President Reagan as he was deciding how to address Americans later that night.
Before the Challenger
Americans had been visiting space for decades before that: the first time in 1961, with US Navy test pilot Alan Shepard.
Shepard was the second man in space after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union just weeks earlier.
By 1969, space travel had advanced to visiting the Moon, something the United States successfully completed with Apollo 11 that year.
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However, with this success, Americans began to fear that the government was spending too much on space, according to NASA.
The Nixon administration focused on reusable manned spacecraft and the space shuttle program was born.
Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986), dressed in a blue NASA jumpsuit, smiles in a studio portrait while holding a model of a space shuttle at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on September 26, 1985. She was the first private citizen to go to space on the shuttle. (Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Challenger's first mission was in April 1983 and it quickly became one of the most popular spacecraft used over the next three years, according to NASA.
The annual State of the Union address for early 1986 was scheduled for the night of the Challenger launch, but given the tragedy, President Reagan decided to delay the address a week.
“The future does not belong to the faint-hearted; it belongs to the brave.”
Instead, that night, Reagan addressed the nation, but from the familiar Oval Office.
President Reagan addresses the nation about the shuttle Challenger disaster, January 28, 1986, from the Oval Office of the White House. (Diana Walker/Getty Images)
Reagan began by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I had planned to speak with you tonight to brief you on the State of the Union, but today's events have led me to change those plans.”
He continued: “Today is a day of mourning and remembrance. Nancy and I are deeply saddened by the Challenger shuttle tragedy. We know that we share this pain with all the people of our country. This is truly a national event.” loss.”
Mandana Marsh holds her daughter, Molly, 4, as they watch television coverage hours after the space shuttle Challenger explosion inside their home in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 28, 1986. When her mother explained what happened, young Molly asked, “Can't Christa swim?” (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
In his speech, Reagan also expressed his willingness to remain steadfast in the pursuit of space flight, but he also focused on the families of those aboard Challenger and the children watching the flight from their classrooms or homes.
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“I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen,” Reagan told the country that night.
“The future does not belong to the faint-hearted; it belongs to the brave,” Reagan also said.
“The Challenger crew was leading us into the future and we will continue to follow them.”
On this day, January 28, 1986, the Challenger spacecraft exploded, killing all seven passengers on board. That night, President Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the tragedy. (Getty Images)
The mission's next launch occurred more than two and a half years later, in September 1988, and was called the “Return to Flight” mission.
The mission lasted four days and included 64 orbits around the planet.
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It ended with a successful landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California, according to NASA.
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