In pictures: 1986 Challenger disaster

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Its been 20 years since the Challenger space shuttle disaster, but those who watched the launch will still remember this shocking image of the explosion that led to the deaths of all seven crew members.

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Christa McAuliffe was to have been the first teacher in space. She had spent months training, including a trip on a special aircraft designed to give budding astronauts a sense of zero gravity.

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Challengers tenth mission had started out with such promise. Christa McAuliffe is seen here boarding the shuttle with pilot Mike Smith in front followed by astronauts Ellison Onizuka and Gregory Jarvis.

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On the morning of 28 January 1986 it was unusually cold - icicles draped Floridas Kennedy Space Center. It was later revealed that the temperature played a major factor in the disaster.

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The launch date had been postponed several times because of poor weather but on 28 January the space shuttle Challenger finally lifted off at 11:38 am EST.

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Just 73 seconds after lift-off, smoke was seen billowing out from the right solid rocket booster followed by several explosions.

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Crowds at the Kennedy Space Centre and millions of TV audiences around the world found it difficult to take in what they were seeing.

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An inquiry known as the Rogers commission concluded the rubber seals, or O-rings, in one of the solid rocket boosters had failed because of low overnight temperatures.

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Debris was recovered and stored in decommissioned missile silos at Cape Canaveral. Nasas shuttle programme was suspended for two years.

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President Ronald Reagan honoured the crew as national heroes. In the back row from left to right: Ellison Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik. In the front row from left to right: Pilot Mike Smith, Commander, Dick Scobee, and Ron McNair.

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i still remember

can't believe it's 20 years already~!!!