A catastrophic failure occurred 73 seconds after liftoff as the shuttle emerged from “Max-Q,” the period of highest mechanical stress in the lower atmosphere. The vehicle broke apart in flight and ...

For millions of Americans, it was an event that would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives – on par with the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. On that chilly January day in 1986, ...

NASA's space shuttle Challenger completed 10 missions before it broke apart during a launch in 1986, killing seven astronauts ...

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. It occurred Feb. 1, 2003. For millions of Americans, it was an event that ...