1-157-452 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Launch of Space Shuttle Challenger from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, 1985. The Space Shuttle, the world's first partially reusable launch vehicle, first flew on 12th April 1981 and has been used for all America's manned space missions ever since. Challenger was lost, together with its crew of seven, when it exploded 73 seconds after lift-off on 28th January, 1986.