A Space Age Conspiracy. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Leib. And this is Ghost Town.

T-minus 21 seconds and the solid rocket booster engine gimbal now underway.

T-minus 15 seconds.

T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. We have main engine start, 4, 3, 2, 1, and lift off.

Lift off of the 25th Space Shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.

So the 25th Space Shuttle mission is now on the way after more delays than NASA cares to count.

This morning that looked as though they were not going to be able to get off.

Looks like a couple of the solid rocket boosters blew away from the side of the shuttle in an explosion.

Like a trodder, you're looking very carefully at the situation.

We're awaiting where they're holding their breath. I'm sure it's everyone else is.

You saw it just a few moments ago, about 45 seconds after lift off, a huge fireball in the sky.

We have a report from the flight dynamics officer that the vehicle has exploded.

Flight director confirms that we are looking at checking with the recovery forces to see what can be done at this point.

The Space Shuttle Challenger was moving upwards at twice the speed of sound when astronaut Michael Smith noticed something alarming.

Looking out the window from the flight deck, Smith saw a flash of vapor, possibly fire.

Uh-oh, he said.

We know this because his response was caught on tape. A reaction eternally frozen in time, foreshadowing the unforgettable disaster that was to come.

But the crash that millions of people watched from their living rooms wasn't the end of the Challenger's heartbreaking story.

In 2015, a conspiracy would emerge, breathing new and puzzling life into a tragedy that traumatized the nation.

Today we're talking about the Challenger doppelganger conspiracy. But let's rewind back to August 27th, 1984.

It was then that President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher and Space Project, a program that was essentially a marketing vehicle to keep educators and kids interested in space exploration.

The presidential elections were three months away, and Reagan was bolstering his chances for a second term.

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