Space Shuttle Challenger Lifts Off
The space shuttle Challenger (STS-51L) lifted off from Pad 39B Jan. 28, 1986 at 11:38 a.m. (EST) with a crew of seven astronauts and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS).
I have memories of watching this live, but that would have been 5.30 in the morning here, and while it wasn’t unheard of to let kids stay up/get up super early I also was sure we watched it at school as Christa was a teacher and so there was a double reason to watch it.
Whatever the case it had a huge impact, absolutely horrifying given how much the shuttle was like a plane and so seemed so familiar and safe.