GREENSBORO, N.C. — To celebrate WFMY News 2 turning 75, we are opening the News 2 Vault.
January 28, 1986, started as a day of celebration but ended as a day of tragedy.
The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after taking off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. All seven crew members died.
Among them was North Carolina A&T native Ronald McNair. He was on board as a mission specialist.
Also on board was Christa McAuliffe. She won a national contest to be the first teacher in space. She was going to conduct at least two lessons from orbit.
Sadly, that never happened.
An investigation blamed the explosion on NASA and some of its contractors for poor engineering and management.
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