Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.

The space shuttle's seven crew members died, including one civilian teacher. The tragedy changed the course of NASA's future. On the morning of January 28, 1986, seven crew members were killed when ...

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart just 73 seconds after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, killing all seven astronauts aboard and marking one of the darkest ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff, killing the seven crew members on board The ...

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff, killing the seven crew members on board The space shuttle disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of ...