The Historical Significance of January 28

This is a very significant day in American History, and a very sad day. On this day, 25 years ago, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight. This mission was significant as on board was the first teacher in space, Social Studies Teacher and New Hampshire resident, Christa McAuliffe, who was to teach a lesson from space that all of America's school children were going to watch. As a result of the significance, schools were gathered in classrooms and auditoriums to watch the takeoff and witnessed this horrible national tragedy. It was later found out that the explosion of Challenger was caused by the failure of an O-Ring seal in one of the rocket boosters, causing the gas inside to escape into the external fuel tank. Temperatures at Kennedy Space Center on that day were unseasonably cold, and it was also found the O-Ring failure came about as a result of those cold temperatures.

President Reagan cancelled the State of the Union that evening and memorialized those who were lost in the Challenger explosion in a short, graceful and moving speech, which is one of his most memorable, that did a great deal to move the healing process forward.