27th anniversary of the Challenger explosion
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Credit: AFP/Getty Images
(FILES): This 28 January 1986 file photo the two solid fuel rocket boosters flaring away from the explosion of the US space shuttle Challenger over Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Twenty years after Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing all seven of its crew members, the shuttle program has yet to overcome doubts about its safety and value. The disaster that unfolded before crowds gathered at Florida's Kennedy Space Center and on live television shocked the country and remains engraved on the national psyche. Fallen crew member Christa McAuliffe, the first non-aviator in space, became a symbol of the Challenger tragedy after having caught the public's imagination. AFP PHOTO/BOB PEARSON/FILES == WITH AFP STORY: US-SPACE-SHUTTLE-CHALLENGER == (Photo credit should read BOB PEARSON/AFP/Getty Images)
