The space shuttle Challenger lifted off at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:38 A.M. on January 28, 1986, on shuttle mission 51-L. At just under 74 seconds into the flight, an explosion occurred, causing the loss of the shuttle and its entire crew, consisting of: Francis R. Scobee, Michael John Smith, Ellison S.Onizuka, Judith Arlene Resnik, Ronald Erwin McNair, Christa McAuliffe, and Gregory Bruce Jarvis. Christa McAuliffe the 37-year-old schoolteacher from New Hampshire was, the …showed first 75 words of 404 total…

…showed last 75 words of 404 total…continuing conflict of the engineers at Thiokol, the manufacturer of the solid rocket motors. (Davinder S. Mahal). Nor did the decision makers have a clear understanding of Rockwell, the main NASA contractor of the shuttle. Therefore the commission concluded that if the decision makers had known all of these facts and the unsafe condition on the launch pad, it is highly unlikely that they would have decided to launch the 51-L shuttle mission on January 28, 1986.