1. By: Rachel Gambacorta

2.  Challenger was NASA's second space shuttle  It had 9 successful launches

3.  Was planned for take off on January 22, 1986  Take off was delayed 6 days due to weather and technical problems  On January 28 th Challenger was ready to take off from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida

4.  January 28 th was extremely cold  Engineers gave warning that certain components were vulnerable to failure at low temperatures  Particularly referring to the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle's solid rocket booster 11:39 a.m. Challenger lifted off

5. There were 7 crew members on Challenger The crew consisted of…

13.  73 seconds after take off the shuttle exploded in a forking cloud of smoke and fire  Hundreds witnessed this on the ground along with millions of viewers at home  The spacecraft broke apart and plunged into the ocean  This killed all 7 crew members http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us /2011/01/28/endo.challenger.anniv.cnn# /video/us/2011/01/28/endo.challenger.a nniv.cnn

14.  President Ronald Reagan selected a special commission to figure out what went wrong  “The O-ring seal on Challenger's solid rocket booster, which had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed. Flames then broke out of the booster and damaged the external fuel tank, causing the spacecraft to disintegrate ”  NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for 2 years

15.  10 years after the explosion, 2 large pieces from the spacecraft washed onto the shore of a Florida beach.  The remaining debris is now stored in a missile silo at Cape Canaveral.  There is now a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the 7 crew members