The Explosion of the Challenger The 1960s and 1970s were a time of great confusion and turmoil in the United States. Americans were afraid, paranoid, and insecure due to events like Watergate, Arab oil price hikes, and the Iranian hostage situation. The U.S. Space Program, or NASA, was becoming...

At 11:38 A.M. on the morning of Tuesday, January 28, 1986, millions of Americans watched as the space shuttle Challenger lifted off. Seventy-three seconds later, millions of Americans watched in horror as the Challenger disintegrated into a huge ball of fire. It was the twenty-fifth space shuttle ...