NASA’s 1986 Challenger mission was intended to inspire students to consider a future in space. The crew’s family is continuing their legacy.

NASA's space shuttle Challenger completed 10 missions before it broke apart during a launch in 1986, killing seven astronauts.

Wednesday marks 40 years since the NASA space shuttle Challenger broke apart after lifting off, killing all seven people on board.

The crew for the space shuttle Challenger flight 51-L leaves their quarters for the launch pad, Jan. 27, 1986, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Front to back are Commander Francis Scobee, mission specialist Judith Resnik,

Marking three decades since the explosion of the Challenger claimed the lives of its seven-member crew, we recap the incident, the investigation, and the lessons learned on the path to space and beyond.

Former astronaut and professor Terry Hart is opening up 40 years later about the friends and colleagues he lost on board the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.

As we enter a new age of space travel, a former NASA astronaut says that rather than accepting risk, we should try to control risks.