Challenger OV-99

NASA's tragic week of Remembrance continues:

January 28th, 1986: Challenger OV-099 flying the twenty-fifth space shuttle mission launched from Launch Complex 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center.

Challenger's crew included;
Mission commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, 
Mission Specialists Ellison Shoji Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, 
Gregory B. Jarvis and the first Teacher in Space, Christa McAuliffe.

Seventy three seconds after liftoff STS-51-L, Challenger was lost with all hands when an O-ring in one of solid rocket boosters failed and the Shuttle suffered total structural failure and disintegrated over the Atlantic ocean near the coast of Florida. 

In memoriam.

Back row (L-R): Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik. Front row (L-R): Michael J. Smith, Francis "Dick" Scobee, Ronald McNair.