Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on January 28th. Thirty-five years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger, carrying 6 astronauts and teacher Christa McAuliffe, set to become the first ordinary citizen to travel into space, exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. Hundreds on the ground, including Christa’s family, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire.

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