Yesterday marked 38 years since the tragedy of Challenger, the NASA space shuttle that disintegrated just 73 seconds after its launch.

The destruction of the spaceship happened over Cape Canaveral, Florida, in a live broadcast, freezing the millions of television viewers.

The cause of the explosion was the detachment of a sealing ring (O-ring) in the right tank of the solid fuel pipelines, resulting in the death of its seven-member crew.

The mission included a civilian for the first time, teacher Christa McAuliffe.

One of the last known photographs of the Challenger crew, shortly before their fatal launch on January 28, 1986

Challenger was the chronologically first space flight to launch but never reached space or even the edge of space, as the disaster occurred in the lower stratosphere.

The seven crew members and the teacher – an emblem of tragedy

Seven people died in the Challenger disaster, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, the only non-astronaut crew member.

McAuliffe was chosen from among 11,000 volunteers who expressed interest in participating in the space mission because she wanted to share her experiences with her students.

challenger

The Challenger crew: Second from left, teacher Christa McAuliffe. Also, pilot Michael Smith (bottom left), Commander Francis Scobie (bottom, center), Ronald McNair (bottom right), Ellison Onizuka (top left), Greg Jarvis (top, second from right) and Judith Resnick (top right)

Concequenses

President Ronald Reagan after the tragedy he asked NASA to improve the program, while also giving a televised speech sermon the first night after the accident.

THE NASA after the disaster he announced that the space shuttles would have an escape system for such an emergency.

Also, space program of the USA discontinued for 2.5 yearsas long as the research that followed lasted, and the first space flight after the disaster began on September 29, 1988 with the Space Shuttle Discovery.