Challenger

Space shuttle Challenger viewed from the research module SPAS (shuttle pallet satellite) during STS-7. It was on this mission that Sally Ride became the first US woman to fly in space.

With the jet-propelled manned manoeuvring unit (MMU), Bruce McCandless was able to move further from his spacecraft than had ever been attempted before. His flight took him 98 m/320 ft from the space shuttle Challenger.

Smoke and clouds of vaporized propellant engulf the Challenger orbiter during the disastrous flight of 28 January 1986. Fragments from the break-up leave trails in the air while the orbiter's solid rocket booster has detached and continues to fly out of control.

Second of the US space shuttles. It made its first flight on 4 April 1983. On its tenth flight on 28 January 1986 the vehicle was destroyed, and its crew of seven killed, when a fault with an O-ring in one of the external rocket boosters led to the explosion of the main fuel tank 73 seconds after lift-off. The accident grounded the shuttle programme until 29 September 1988.

Challenger spent a total of 69 days in space.