On January 28th, 1986 at 11:39am EST The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff. A terrible disaster taking the lives of seven astronauts- Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe who was the first teacher to go into space, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith and Dick Scobee.
The O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the solid rocket booster joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent solid rocket booster attachment hardward and externam fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand solid rocket boosters aft attachment and the structural failure of the externam tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter. The disaster resulted in a 32 month hiatus in the shuttle program.
below is the live coverage from CNN that day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JOjcDFtBE
slicethelife 
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Com™ and commented:
A very sad day in American history. Thank you slicethelife, for helping us to remember.
I remember that day so well.
It was an unbelievable, multi-layered tragedy. I remember the nation being just…stunned.
I remember the reaction of the people in the stands.. the families.. totally stunned..you could tell it wasn’t sinking in yet.. what a terrible day..