Last words of Challenger's crew before the space shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight give us chills

Being an astronaut is inherently risky. As space travel accelerated in the late 20th century, the world saw numerous successful manned and unmanned missions. Yet, there were also tragic days marked by devastating disasters. One such incident is the globally remembered explosion of the U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger. In 1986, the nation was quite ambitious about NASA's STS-51L, a six-day mission that was the 10th flight of the space shuttle Challenger. However, a tragic malfunction caused the Challenger to explode just 73 seconds after launch, claiming the lives of all seven crew members.

The Challenger crew included Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, and Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis. The crew also featured a civilian, chosen from over 10,000 applicants, as part of NASA's "Teacher in Space" project. A New Hampshire middle school teacher S. Christa McAuliffe was selected for the mission that was scheduled for January 28, 1986. Despite the unexpectedly cold weather at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the managers of the mission were prepared to launch Challenger. Unbeknownst to them, the shuttle would last only 73 seconds in the atmosphere.

In the transcript of the Challenger crew's conversations released by NASA, one can find the comments made by Scobee, Smith, Onizuka and Resnik during their last few seconds. While the recorder was activated around 2 minutes before launch, the crew was heard sharing some light-hearted banter while also discussing the technicalities like cabin pressure, alarms and harnesses. Once the space shuttle was set in motion, Smith, the pilot exclaimed, "Here we go. Go! You Mother." Smith later pointed out, "Looks like we’ve got a lotta wind here today," to which Scobee replied, "Yeah. It’s a little hard to see out my window here." 

The space shuttle was gradually gaining speed and Smith enthusiastically said, "Feel that mother go." A few seconds after the shuttle reached 35000 feet, the pilot and the commander were keeping the airspeed under check when Scobee said, "Roger, go at throttle up." That was when things went downhill and Smith, who probably figured that something was wrong, said, "Uh oh." It was the last word heard from the crew, after which NASA lost all contact with the team and people all around the world watched the space shuttle explode in the sky. 

NASA reported that the space shuttle exploded because of the loss of integrity of the O-ring seals in the solid rocket booster segment joints. Concerns were raised by the engineers who worked on the program regarding the inefficient O-ring seals caused by the freezing temperatures the previous night. However, the managers cleared the launch on January 28, which ultimately resulted in the loss of seven lives.

Speaking of the final moments before a disaster, rare footage from British Pathé of the Apollo 1 crew's preparations has been breaking hearts online. Leaving their loved ones behind on Earth, the three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission were nervously gearing up in their space suits for a launch rehearsal test. The video shared by Morbid Knowledge (@Morbidful) on X shows the moments before the spacecraft's cabin was engulfed in fire devouring the lives of the three astronauts.