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Space Shuttle Challenger / OV-099
Launched 1986-01-28 16:38 UTCLaunch Complex 39B, Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
During the ascent phase, 73 seconds after liftoff, the vehicle experienced a catastrophic structural failure resulting in the loss of crew and vehicle. The Rogers Commission later determined the cause of the accident to have been the failure of the primary and secondary (backup) O-ring seals on Challenger's right Solid Rocket Booster.
From Launch Library 2 · updated
Launch failure
Target: Low Earth Orbit
Space Shuttle lifted off with STS-51-L, but the launch failed.
Next
Waiting on the Cause
No cause has been given yet. What Lockheed Space Operations Company finds will be added here, and to the updates below.
The tenth mission for Challenger, STS-51-L was scheduled to deploy the second in a series of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, carry out the first flight of the Shuttle-Pointed Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN-203) / Halley's Comet Experiment Deployable in order to observe Halley's Comet, and carry out several lessons from space as part of the Teacher in Space Project and Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP).
Launches
65
Successful
64
98%
Upcoming
0
scheduled
Height
56.1m
Diameter
8m
To low Earth orbit
27,500kg
Liftoff thrust
28,200kN
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