The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster took place on January 28, 1986 when Challenger , a Space Shuttle operated by NASA, consisting of the Challenger Orbiter, designated OV-099, an External Tank (ET) containing liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer, and two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). Disintegration of the shuttle stack began 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing a flare (of pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor) to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank. Roughly 90 seconds into the launch, the SRB breach flare led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft attachment and the structural failure of the external tank, dumping the liquid hydrogen fuel load all at once and causing a massive explosion as this fuel was immediately ignited by various present flame sources. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter after this event caused loss of attitude control. The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation. The crew were probably killed by impact of their crew compartment with the ocean surface, although they might have suffered lethal injuries from the forces of the disintegration.

The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers Commission found that NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes had been a key contributing factor to the accident. NASA managers had known that contractor Morton Thiokol's design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the O-rings since 1977, but they failed to address it properly. They also disregarded warnings from engineers about the dangers of launching on such a cold day and had failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors. The Rogers Commission offered NASA nine recommendations that were to be implemented before shuttle flights resumed.

Many viewed the launch live due to the presence on the crew of Christa McAuliffe, the first member of the Teacher in Space Project. Media coverage of the accident was extensive: one study reported that 85 percent of Americans surveyed had heard the news within an hour of the accident. The Challenger disaster has been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace ethics and inspired the 1990 television movie, Challenger .

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