The Challenger Explosion Was a National Disaster
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded moments after the launch. There was no distress call before the explosion, but transcripts of the crew’s compartment conversations indicated that they activated their emergency breathing packs seconds after the initial blast. This meant that the crew may have been aware of what was about to happen right before the ship disintegrated. Now ground control was concerned that they were facing a potentially new disaster up in space.