25th Anniversary of Space Shuttle Challenger Tragedy Highlights Perils of Exploration

The explosion of the space shuttle on its 10th mission became NASA’s first in-flight disaster. The horror was magnified because millions of students and teachers watched on live television in hopes of seeing the first teacher venture into space.

Challenger’s anniversary also comes in a year when NASA prepares to end the 30-year-old space shuttle program.

Challenger had special connection to schools and teachers

	Christa McAuliffe, a teacher, was selected to go aboard the Challenger to spur interest in the space program among teachers and students.

A year prior to the launch, Christa McAuliffe applied for the Teacher in Space Project (TISP), which was created by President Ronald Reagan’s administration to spur an interest in mathematics and science while rewarding teachers and engaging students.

In her application to the project, McAuliffe wrote, “I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this is an opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and space.”

The New Hampshire teacher was chosen from 11,000 applicants.

Following her selection, McAuliffe underwent a yearlong NASA training program to prepare for Challenger’s launch in early 1986. She appeared as a guest on a number of talk shows, creating buzz around TISP. As part of the program, McAuliffe was scheduled to teach two lessons from Challenger’s crew compartment while in space.

A day that changed NASA forever

	This memorial to the Challenger astronauts stands at Arlington National Cemetery.

Initially, Challenger was set to launch into space on Jan. 22, 1986, but a series of weather related delays and mechanical glitches pushed the launch date back six days.

On the unusually cold morning, the astronauts boarded Challenger at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, Challenger exploded over the Atlantic Ocean after a seal in its right rocket booster failed. 

That night, President Reagan spoke to the nation, including children who had gathered in classrooms all across the country to watch the liftoff.

“It’s hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave,” said President Reagan.

NASA disasters have been few and far between

	President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation after the Challenger explosion.

Before Challenger, tragedy had only struck NASA once. In 1967, a flash fire during a launch pad test of Apollo 1, which was set to take man to the moon for the first time, killed the three astronauts onboard.

However, that tragedy didn’t have a lasting effect on NASA and its exploration program. Two years later in 1969, NASA was celebrated as Apollo 11 brought the first humans to the moon.

After the Challenger disaster in 1986, all space exploration missions were placed on hold and President Reagan ordered an investigation into the accident.

NASA would not experience a major catastrophe for well over a decade. But in 2003, upon re-entry into Earth’s orbit, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas. An investigation found that damage to the shuttle’s thermal protection system made it vulnerable on its return to Earth. 

An end to the space shuttle program

	Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor are the only three space shuttles left in the program. They will likely be replaced by a new heavy-lift launch vehicle in the next few years.

Following the disintegration of Columbia, a presidential mandate by George W. Bush in 2004 instructed NASA to retire the shuttle program and begin work on the Constellation Program, which would focus on sending humans back to the moon.

However, that program was cancelled by President Obama in 2010, and replaced by a plan to create a new heavy-lift launch vehicle by 2015. He has also spawned initiatives for programs to focus on a U.S.-crewed orbital Mars mission by the mid-2030s.

Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor are the only operational shuttles left in the NASA fleet, with all three set for launch this year to the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled to launch in February, Endeavor is set to launch in April and Atlantis will close out the space shuttle program this summer. To date, the space shuttle program has carried nearly 300 humans into space.