The American Space Shuttle That Broke Apart at 73 Seconds After Launch on 28 January 1986 Because the O-Rings on the Right Solid Rocket Booster Had Failed at Low Temperature
The Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on 28 January 1986, killing all seven crew. The proximate cause was the failure of a rubber O-ring seal on the right solid rocket booster at the unusually cold overnight launch temperature. The engineers at the manufacturer Morton Thiokol had argued against the launch for thermal reasons the night before; they had been overruled by their own management on a NASA conference call.
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