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"Orbits: 0; Duration: 01 min 13 seconds; Distance: 18 miles; Landing: none."

"The Explosion 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle. Cause of explosion was determined to be an O-ring failure in right SRB. Cold weather was a contributing factor."

Shuttle Mission 51-L, Official NASA Documentation

"CNN's John Zarrella was at the Kennedy Space Center [...] as NASA planned to send the first civilian into space aboard space shuttle Challenger." Read his debrief in the CNN 2001 Archives. And at BBC News, a BBC On This Day summary for this event.

Also today, 1968: After a B-52 crash, the U.S. Air Force loses 4 hydrogen bombs over Iceland. "It is thought the radioactive detonators are still missing." Ironically in 2001, "there was a similar accident involving a B-52 over the sea off Palomares in south-east Spain. The plane dropped its bombs over the Spanish coast. It took nearly 80 days to recover the last of the four bombs on board that plane."