On January 28th, 1986 the world watched in horror as the televised launch of the space shuttle Challenger ended in tragedy when the ship broke apart just 73 seconds later, killing everyone on board. To this day, it remains one of the worst space accidents in history. When the Challenger launched in 1986, there were 7 people on board who had been tasked with deploying a large communications orbital satellite to monitor Halley’s comet, retrieving a payload specialist from the International Space Station and launching the Teacher in Space Project. Let's look at how these tragic events unfolded on today's video.