January 28, 1986, 11:39 am EDT, is the date that history was written on the pages of space travel. Space Shuttle Challenger, one of America's ambitious space shuttle missions, was in its tenth mission, mission STS-51-L, when tragedy struck. Horror-stricken, people around the world watched as the spacecraft exploded just 73 seconds into flight, taking with it the horrific loss of all seven crew members on board. It took place off the Cape Canaveral coast in Florida and has permanently left its mark on the space industry. The Challenger disaster, as much as it was tragic, was also a stern lesson of the complexity and challenges introduced by space exploration. The flight, designated as STS-51-L, made it become the tenth for the Challenger orbiter and the twentieth for the Space Shuttle program. With the vehicle already up in flight with high hopes running, the tragedy came hard and sudden. The cause of the tragedy was in the failure of two backup O-ring seals on a joint of the right solid rocket booster (SRB) of the Space Shuttle. The failure was shortly after liftoff, which created an opening in the joint where pressurized gas would heat up sufficiently to burn through the wall and into the adjacent external fuel tank. This led to structural failure of the external tank along with loss of right-hand SRB's aft attachment. Hence, the crew compartment of the orbiter was destroyed by aerodynamic forces with no chance of survival for the crew members. The disaster set off a huge investigation by the Rogers Commission, established by President Ronald Reagan. The findings of the commission determined organizational and decision-making issues at NASA, and technical issues that had not been addressed adequately. 1977 test results had already found potential O-ring defects in the SRBs, but these were dismissed. Cold-weather flight safety measures were disregarded by managers, and this was the main contributory factor to the catastrophe. The accident had far-reaching consequences for the space program. It led to a 32-month hiatus in the Space Shuttle program and resulted in the establishment of NASA's Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance. The accident also led to safety procedures being modified, such as redesigned SRBs and crew members having to wear pressurized suits for ascent and reentry. Commercial satellites were later even launched with expendable launch vehicles rather than the crewed orbiter. Challenger's legacy was tragic and visionary. Remembering the courageous crew members who perished reminds us each time of the dangers of space flight. The impact of the disaster necessitated a review of safety, imparting an even greater sense of urgency to reply to issues and provision for the well-being of those who venture outside our planet's confines.