‘Truly a National Loss’: Today Marks 38 Years Since Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster That Killed Seven

Today, Sunday January 28, 2024, is the 38th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle explosion that took the lives of an entire crew, a loss that deeply grieved Americans across the nation, per WGAL.

The seven NASA astronauts were killed 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to History.com. The site noted that prior to the disaster, the launch was delayed for several days because of weather and technical issues.

The site detailed what happened:

The morning of January 28 was unusually cold, and engineers warned their superiors that certain components—particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters—were vulnerable to failure at low temperatures. However, these warnings went unheeded, and at 11:39 a.m. Challenger lifted off.

Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including the families of McAuliffe and the other astronauts on board, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television.

The astronauts who died during the explosion are identified as Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnick, and teacher Christa McAuliffe, per WGAL.

Video footage shows the moments during the countdown and the shuttle lifting off into the sky, according to archival footage from NBC News.

But just over one minute into its flight, the shuttle exploded. “From Mission Control, silence,” a reporter for the outlet said in recalling what happened:

NASA’s shuttle program was placed on a 32-month suspension as a result of the disaster, and then President Ronald Reagan created the Rogers Commission to investigate the exact cause.

In his address following the explosion, President Reagan told Americans, “Today is a day for mourning and remembering,” adding he and his wife shared the pain Americans were feeling over the Challenger disaster:

“This is truly a national loss,” he continued, noting the astronauts were aware of the dangers yet “did their jobs brilliantly.”