Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.

The bright orange blast and trails of smoke in the Florida sky on Jan. 28, 1986, supplanted pride and excitement with stunned silence among the children and teens on Long Island and across the nation ...

It was 40 years ago today (Jan. 28) that the space shuttle Challenger blasted off on its 10th mission to space. Sadly, the vehicle never made it there. Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff ...

The Challenger disaster's enduring legacy is the educational mission that arose from the tragedy. Challenger Learning Centers were created to honor the crew by inspiring young people in science and ...

A little more than a minute after launch and high above Kennedy Space Center, shuttle Challenger was ripped apart after failure of a rubber seal allowed a spurt of rocket flame to ignite the ...

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 after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the... 40 years after Challenger: Lingering guilt and lessons ...