STS-51-L

STS-51-L was the disastrous 25th mission of <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a>'s <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_program/6Ikdvwsw">Space Shuttle program</a> and the final flight of <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_Challenger/K4dGtVCC">Space Shuttle Challenger</a>.
It was planned as the first <a href="/facts/Teacher_in_Space_Project/eyUXM8v0">Teacher in Space Project</a> flight in addition to observing <a href="/facts/Halley%2527s_Comet/DQongwTQ">Halley's Comet</a> for six days and performing a routine satellite deployment. The mission never achieved orbit; a <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster/HMBh3T7Q">structural failure</a> during its ascent phase 73 seconds after launch from <a href="/facts/Kennedy_Space_Center_Launch_Complex_39B/TS56c5d6">Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B</a> on January 28, 1986, destroyed the orbiter and killed all seven crew members—Commander <a href="/facts/Dick_Scobee/3WlQ7mDg">Francis R. "Dick" Scobee</a>, Pilot <a href="/facts/Michael_J._Smith_(astronaut)/RUrMQsyg">Michael J. Smith</a>, Mission Specialists <a href="/facts/Ellison_Onizuka/jJECVekD">Ellison S. Onizuka</a>, <a href="/facts/Judith_Resnik/wz5AUc3r">Judith A. Resnik</a> and <a href="/facts/Ronald_McNair/fsa2j3VA">Ronald E. McNair</a>, and Payload Specialists <a href="/facts/Gregory_Jarvis/YkfaRHgl">Gregory B. Jarvis</a> and <a href="/facts/Christa_McAuliffe/Fq9xeu1z">S. Christa McAuliffe</a>.
Immediately after the failure, President <a href="/facts/Ronald_Reagan/z6AaKAad">Ronald Reagan</a> convened the <a href="/facts/Rogers_Commission/wqA20AgL">Rogers Commission</a> to determine the cause of the explosion. The failure of an <a href="/facts/O-ring/wp4x9hKD">O-ring</a> seal on the starboard <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster/ETayF0Xh">Solid Rocket Booster (SRB)</a> was determined to have caused the shuttle to break up in flight. Space Shuttle flights were suspended for 32 months while the O-rings and other hazards that could have destroyed the vehicle on following missions were addressed. Shuttle missions resumed in September 1988 with <a href="/facts/STS-26/InzmhYrm">STS-26</a>.

STS-51-L open-in-new

STS-51-L