Thirty years after the space shuttle Challenger exploded during liftoff, a new generation of spaceships continues to build on changes made after NASA's fatal accident.
Challenger blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the frigid morning of Jan. 28, 1986. The flight lasted just 73 seconds after a rubber seal in one of the shuttle's twin booster rockets failed, triggering an explosion.
The disaster exposed shuttle design shortcomings and operational problems in the U.S. space program. But it also helped seed a commercial space transportation industry that is now developing passenger spaceships.
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