The two solid rocket boosters flew in different directions as the external fuel tank became a fireball.(AP: Bruce Weaver / File) Forty years ago, the Challenger space shuttle disintegrated just after ...

San Diego aerospace engineer Wesley Melvin Dreyer spent decades pushing the boundaries of aviation—from developing top-secret defense projects to helping uncover the cause of the Challenger disaster.

Forty years ago, Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight, killing its crew of seven and exposing the management culture and decision-making process that led NASA to launch on ...

The catastrophic loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986, stands as a haunting reminder of the immense risks and complexities involved in humanity's exploration of space. This event, ...

Bob Ebeling was anxious and angry as he drove to work on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986. He kept thinking about the space shuttle Challenger, cradled on a Florida launchpad 2,000 miles away. Ebeling ...

Forty years ago, the world watched in horror as NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded mid-air, killing all seven crew members aboard. The disaster occurred at what was then the pinnacle of the U.S.

The year 1986 was notable for two big disasters, both of them attributable to human error and bureaucratic negligence at competing super powers: the Chernobyl nuclear ...

William R. Lucas, who directed the Marshall Space Flight Center from a crucial time of expansion into one of its darkest hours, died Feb. 10, 2025, at his home in Huntsville. He was 102. Lucas served ...

Mary Cleave, the NASA astronaut who in 1989 became the first woman to fly on a space shuttle mission after the Challenger disaster, has died at the age of 76. NASA did not give a cause of death, the ...