Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch. Today we remember seven crew members whose lives were taken during the disaster. | WESH 2 News

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. | AARP Arizona

35 YEARS LATER: On this day in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board. The Challenger broke apart at 11:39 a.m., falling into the Atlantic Ocean. Investigators would later discover the disaster was caused by the failure of an “O ring” seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets. As a result of the horrific accident, NASA did not send astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of space shuttle features for improv