The STS-1 mission launched NASA astronauts John W. Young and Robert Crippen into space for a 54.4 hour, 36 orbit test flight of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. | Space.com

Get ready! The largest, most powerful rocket booster built for flight will fire up for a major ground test Tuesday at Orbital ATK's test facilities in Promontory, Utah. This is the last, full-scale qualification test for the booster before the first, uncrewed flight of our new rocket, the Space Launch System, with the Orion spacecraft in 2018. More: http://go.nasa.gov/295WXD9 #JourneyToMars | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

This crowd of people have gathered to watch a rocket booster test in Utah... and we can blame them, it's so cool! 😎🚀 | UNILAD Tech

5.7M views · 95K reactions | 40 years ago this morning, the unthinkable happened: the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all 7 astronauts on board, including Christa McAuliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space. School children watched in horror as the tragedy happened. This is original coverage from the Eyewitness News vault. | ABC7NY | Facebook

On January 28th, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded and broke apart on take off. This week, Destruction Decoded explores the top 10 most dramatic space accidents, from Baikonur to Cape Canaveral. Watch Destruction Decoded on Wednesdays at 8pm, on National Geographic UK. | National Geographic UK