--- title: Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster | TIME description: TIME's Senior Editor Jeffrey Kluger explains the science behind the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster canonical: https://time.com/video/bnipliOt/ og:title: Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster og:description: TIME's Senior Editor Jeffrey Kluger explains the science behind the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster og:url: https://time.com/video/bnipliOt/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bnipliOt/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster twitter:description: TIME's Senior Editor Jeffrey Kluger explains the science behind the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bnipliOt/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=3f02a811-619a-4b8c-a3bd-fca68be4844f&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=3f02a811-619a-4b8c-a3bd-fca68be4844f&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster [Watch (HLS stream): Challenger: The Science of a Shuttle Disaster](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnipliOt.m3u8) (3:26)  _Published 2016-01-28. TIME's Senior Editor Jeffrey Kluger explains the science behind the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster_ --- Jul 27, 2023 7:30 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [TIME Explains: Mars, with Jeffrey Kluger](/video/5wSa3koN/) ### TIME Explains: Mars, with Jeffrey Kluger [Space Shuttle Enterprise Flyby](/video/GwHMWI8G/) ### Space Shuttle Enterprise Flyby [Mood and Meaning at the Final Shuttle Launch](/video/OUYulq7s/) ### Mood and Meaning at the Final Shuttle Launch --- ## Transcript This was the space shuttle Challenger. These were Challenger's solid rocket boosters. This was Challenger's external fuel tank. These were the seven men and women who climbed into the spacecraft on the morning of January 28th, 1986. [ MUSIC ] And this is what their launch pad looked like. [ MUSIC ] It's a tragic fact of history the Challenger never should have left the pad on that cold day in central Florida. It's a fact of history to that less than a second after the rocket did lift off and ominous puff of gray smoke became visible on the right hand solid booster. Emerging from a spot where a rubber ring that was supposed to seal a joint had cracked in the cold. [ MUSIC ] The astronauts didn't know this, no one knew this. As the shuttle climbed in its usual way at its usual speeds, giving the crew a thrilling ride, go you mother [ BLEEP ] the pilot Mike Smith shouted. Urging his ship on. The spacecraft responded, climbing to an altitude of 46, 000 feet and reaching a velocity nearly twice the speed of sound until 73 seconds into the flight when it all came undone. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] The smoke pouring from the solid booster had given way to a flame. And the flame had burned through a strut attaching the booster to the fuel tank. And eventually through the tank itself. Igniting the hydrogen inside. The explosion that resulted produced and eerie two- fingered fireball. As the tank and spacecraft were consumed by the blast and the solid rockets now liberated Briefly continued on their way. The last words that came from the cockpit were a simple uh- oh from Smith, after which there was nothing. [ MUSIC ] Lost with Smith that day were payload specialist Gregory Jarvis, mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, and Ellison Onizuka, Commander **** Scobee, and teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe who was on board to help demonstrate That space flight was now a thing that could be almost routine. The space shuttle would fly again and it would kill again when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re- entry in 2003, claiming seven more lives. But no man or woman who has ever flown in space did so under the illusion that it was not a dangerous Risk business. That doesn't make the loss of life any less tragic. But it does make the willingness to fly despite the risks even more remarkable. 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