2.  The shuttle program started around 1977  Space crafts had a one time usage beforehand  Program was to have cargo carrying ships that can be reused  The Challenger was manufactured by Rockwell in 1982

3.  The Challenger was named after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger  The maiden voyage happened on April 4, 1983  Sally Ride was the first American woman in space  The Challenger went on to complete eight more successful missions

4.  Named Shuttle Mission STS-51-L  Scheduled to carry:  Cargo  Tracking Data Relay Satellite-2 (TDRS-2)  The Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203)  Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable  A free-flying module to observe Halley’s Comet And seven astronauts!

5. Sharon Christa McAuliffe Francis R. Scobee Michael J. Smith Ellison S. Onizuka Ronald E. McNair Judith A. Resnik Gregory B. Jarvis

6.  Started teaching in 1982 at Concord High School  More than 11,000 people participated in TISP  TISP – Teacher In Space Program  The goal of TISP was to find a gifted teacher that could communicate with students from space  She was selected as the first TISP Participant  This was national news!!

7.  Originally scheduled for January 22, 1986  Due to plaguing incidents, it was rescheduled  It was moved to January 28, 1986  It was on national T.V.  CNN  Thousands in attendance  Millions watching at home  Lift off happened at 11:30:00 a.m.  Only 73 seconds into take off, a booster failure caused an explosion  The Challenger was gone… The Challenger was gone…

8.  The failure of an “O-ring” seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the Space Shuttle Challenger's right side.  It was oddly cold and let hot gases pass through.  The Booster rocket flames passed through the seal.  This burned through the external fuel and broke the booster off.  The booster pierced the tank and hydrogen and oxygen fuels were released.

9. PPresident Reagan addressed the explosion later that day FFormed a commission to investigate HHeaded by William Rogers IIncluded Neil Armstrong and Chuck Yeager AAll shuttle programs were halted TThey resumed on September 28, 1988 “Obviously a major malfunction” ~ Home base (after explosion)