On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff, killing the seven crewmembers on board. <br /><br />The space shuttle disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA later determined that two rubber O-rings, which were designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the space shuttle program as NASA worked to redesign the spacecraft to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again.
