Remembering the Challenger explosion, 40 years later

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

On Jan. 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. All seven crew members on board were killed. The disaster was one of the most significant events in NASA history, watched live by millions of people around the world. It grounded all space shuttle missions for almost three years. Adam Higginbotham, author of the book "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space," talks about what happened, the lives lost, and what NASA learned from the disaster.

Then, Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school teacher from New Hampshire, was one of those crew members. She was set to become the first teacher in space. NHPR's Patrick McNameeKing discusses McAuliffe's life and legacy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:05.5	They'd sort of begun to believe in their own mythos,
0:09.3	so that by 1986, you know, the engineers involved in the program
0:12.8	had begun to accept too much risk.
0:16.3	It's been 40 years since millions of Americans watched the space shuttle Challenger explode on live TV.
0:25.2	What went wrong with the launch? And what's the legacy of Challenger today?
0:43.9	It's Friday, January 30th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR.
0:44.9	I'm Chris Bentley.
0:56.9	On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
1:03.6	Today on the show, we're looking back on what happened and remembering a major moment in modern American history.
1:12.0	We'll hear from people who knew Krista McColliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space about her legacy 40 years later.
1:17.5	She became bigger than she was, but I think that would be her point.
1:22.2	We have to find the extraordinary in the everyday.
1:30.4	Before we get to that, though, the Challenger disaster occupies an important place in the country's collective memory.
1:37.0	It was an era when space shuttle launches had become routine, but still carried with them a sense of national pride.
1:47.4	Then, tragedy struck. The nation mourned the seven crew members. Dick Scobie, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ronald McNair,
1:56.1	Alison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Krista McColliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher and the first private citizen in space.
2:12.5	The shuttle program was immediately grounded after the disaster. NASA, and a special commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan, investigated what went wrong, and discovered engineers who'd raised concerns about the launch had been overruled.
2:19.8	Adam Higginbotham wrote the book, Challenger, the true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space.
2:21.9	He spoke to Scott Tong.
2:28.1	The space shuttle exploded just over a minute after taking off on a frigid morning in Florida.
2:37.1	How did the families of the astronauts, how did the country experience the horror of that day? Well, I think to begin with, you know, like most of the astronauts, how did the country experience the horror of that day? Well, I think to begin with,
	...

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