Forty Years After Challenger, Spaceflight Remains a High-Stakes Endeavor Written 28 January 2026
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Space shuttle Challenger lifts off from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Jan. 28, 1986 at 11:38 a.m. (EST) with a crew of seven astronauts. | Credit: NASA
Seven astronauts lost their lives during the Challenger space shuttle disaster on Jan. 28, 1986. SPACE reports that four decades later, human spaceflight remains difficult, “despite progress in ‘lessons learned.’”
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