Featured Map: Remembering Challenger, 25 Years Later (28 January 2011)

25 years ago, NASA's Space Shuttle Mission STS-51-L (orbiter OV-99 Challenger) blew up 73 seconds after launching from Launch Pad 39B, the first Shuttle launch from that pad. In memory of the crew of seven, all of whom died in the accident, today's map shows where they each of them was from:

• Francis R. "Dick" Scobee — Commander, born Cle Elum, Washington
• Michael J. Smith — Pilot, born Beaufort, North Carolina
• Judith A. Resnik — Mission Specialist, born Akron, Ohio
• Ronald E. McNair — Mission Specialist, born Lake City, South Carolina
• Ellison S. Onizuka — Mission Specialist, born Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii
• Gregory B. Jarvis — Payload Specialist, born Detroit, Michigan
• Sharon Christa McAuliffe — Teacher, born Boston, Massachusetts

"The future is not free: the story of all human progress is one of a struggle against all odds. We learned again that this America, which Abraham Lincoln called the last, best hope of man on Earth, was built on heroism and noble sacrifice. It was built by men and women like our seven star voyagers, who answered a call beyond duty, who gave more than was expected or required and who gave it little thought of worldly reward."

   — President Ronald Reagan, 31 January 1986

Additional information:

• NASA History:
  • Challenger STS 51-L Accident
  • The Crew of the Challenger Shuttle Mission in 1986
  • Report of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident
  • Space Shuttle Mission STS-51L Press Kit
• Kennedy Space Center:
  Shuttle Orbiter Challenger (OV-99)
  • Launch Complex 39-A & 39-B
• STS-51-L – Encyclopedia Astronautica
• STS-51-L – Wikipedia