[Leslie Serna] In the morning, when my dad picked me up
to go to work at Thiokol,
there was an air that was very heavy.
He was a total and complete wreck.
He said, "We're gonna have a catastrophic event.
Catastrophic."
And he was beating his fists on the dashboard
and on the wheel.
I had never seen my dad be so despondent just driving to work.
He said, "The shuttle is going to explode."
[theme music playing]
Whenever you're ready, Bobby.
[Bobby] Okay, why don't we all gather over at the...
[man] You gonna do different backgrounds, red and gold?
-[Bobby] Yeah. -[man] Whatever.
[Bobby] Scobee, we'd like to seat you right in the middle.
[Scobee] Okay.
[Bobby] And, Mike, come sit right in the middle.
What later will turn out to be the middle.
-Okay, up on the stool there. Real tall. -Up here?
All the shirts and the jackets and the...
We need the jackets zipped, or you wanna leave 'em...
[Bobby] Why don't we zip 'em up? To about right...
[man] About half-mast.
Casual big smile... Okay.
[camera shutter clicks]
Christa knew that she was gonna be launching,
and she was really, really excited about it.
We had learned a lot about NASA,
that everything on the mission is critical.
Regardless of who is there to do it, it's mission-critical.
[teacher] Visors are down for launch, up for reentry.
That's it. We just landed.
[anchor] Christa McAuliffe looks every inch an astronaut these days,
and her crewmates treat her like one of the gang.
[Christa laughing]
It's a six-person raft, so someone's gotta go.
I feel very fortunate to be on flight with this crew,
but there's a lot of difference between a payload specialist
or a space participant and an astronaut.
I mean, they go through years of training,
and I've had a glimpse of a lot of the things that they've done,
but I do not understand an awful lot that goes on aboard the shuttle.
[June Scobee Rogers] Dick asked me a lot of questions about flying with a teacher.
"Should I tell them this is a risky business?"
Whereas they were being told it's like a commercial aircraft.
And I said, "By all means."
And he told them. "It is a risk.
This is a test vehicle. It is not an airline."
[Barbara] Dick met with us several times.
He talked about the technological challenges
and how complex this is.
He said, "You know, of all these things that can go wrong,
there are humans involved,
and it's that humans are more likely to make errors
than the equipment," etcetera,
so, uh, he-- he really made sure that we under-- that we understood that.
[woman] My father, Mike Smith, was the pilot of the Challenger.
As the launch approached,
we just started taking father-daughter walks together.
And I did ask him,
"So there's a millionth of a millionth percent chance something will go wrong?"
And he said safety was the number-one priority for the launch,
and I left it at that, and I just went on.
[Jane Smith-Wolcott] Prior to the launch,
the spouses were cleared by quarantine,
but our children could not see their mothers or fathers.
[man] I remember, my dad, he had snuck out of quarantine,
coming by our house very late at night.
And the fact that he was there was one more acknowledgment that,
you know, this is risky.
I felt that he only did it because there is that uncertainty.
He told me he loved me, told me to take care of, you know,
my sister and my mom while he was gone and that he'd see me soon.
[instructor] You need all this. This is the equipment that's gonna fly.
Do you wanna change anything? Wanna try it on? Feel free to.
-[Christa] I think they're big! -[man] You'll fill them out.
You missed it. Here's your list...
The space shuttle Challenger is set for blast off at Cape Canaveral on Sunday.
For six of the astronauts, it's just another day's work,
but, for the seventh, it will be a day like no other.
[reporter] The preparation is over, the countdown has started.
For school teacher Christa McAuliffe,
the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime is just around the corner.
The adrenaline's flowing. [laughing]
It was hard sleeping last night.
Dick and the other pilots flew their T-38s out to Kennedy Space Center.
The civilians flew in a NASA aircraft.
Christa and Greg Jarvis flew over with us.
The flight was fun.
There were tables and we could sit across from each other in the tables.
Christa sat across from me.
We sat around joking with each other, and we joked about her tennis shoes
versus the big Brogan boots that the pilots wore.
But she was busy writing letters, notes to her students.
She was a serious teacher.
Every moment was dedicated to teaching.
[Barbara] She had all the pressure of the media,
all the pressure of being ready to fly,
but she was still writing letters of recommendation
for two of her students.
That was Christa, you know, taking time out of everything else
and making sure that those letters were written.
[June] So we called her the write, W-R-I-T-E, "the write stuff..."
is what Christa was.
The 51L crew landed at the shuttle landing facility at Kennedy Space Center
where they were going to be doing last-minute training and preparations.
We'd brought them over for a press conference before that happened.
[moderator] Good afternoon.
I'd like to introduce to you the commander of STS 51L, Commander Dick Scobee.
[all cheering]
[Scobee] As usual, it's a real pleasure to be at the Cape to come down here
and participate in something the Cape does better than anybody,
and that's launching space vehicles.
We expect weather like this on Sunday when we launch,
and do the best to keep it that way if you would.
I'd like to introduce my pilot, Mike Smith.
[applause]
Thanks, Dick. I'm one of the three people on board who...
and it'll be my first time to fly.
Christa McAuliffe and Greg Jarvis, will all-- It'll also be their first time,
and we're just all looking forward to getting into orbit
-and getting the secret handshake. -[crowd laughs]
I am hoping that the affliction that Steve Hawley had
from the 41D mission,
mission specialist of the delays, hasn't rubbed off on me,
and I think the guys behind me are hoping that it hasn't also.
The mission is a great mission.
We're looking forward to it, and I think we're ready to go fly.
I had the privilege of being a part of the crew a couple years ago
that made the first landing here at the Cape,
and I intend to be a part of the crew
to make the first return landing to the Cape.
I'm very proud to be part of the program that NASA and Hughes have put together,
and I'm glad to represent the Hughes Aircraft Company as payload specialist.
I don't think any teacher has ever been more ready to have two lessons in my life.
I've been preparing these since September,
and I just hope everybody tunes in on day four now
to watch the teacher teaching from space.
[Nesbitt] After the press conference,
one of the traditions of the crew getting ready for launch
is going out to the beach house out there on the Atlantic Ocean
and spending some time with their families.
[waves crashing]
[seagulls crying]
[Marcia Jarvis] The beach house is just a funky house
way on a beach far away from everything else.
It's very low-key.
It's got orange, faux-leather furniture inside,
and a barbecue, and it's just, you know, big windows facing the ocean.
[camera shutter snaps]
[June] This was a great group.
We'd been working together, planning what we would do while we were in Florida.
And so we were bonded.
[camera shutter snaps]
[June] I took pictures of each couple.
[camera shutter snaps]
[June] Someone took a picture of me and Dick.
He always had his arm around me,
but I remember that day, I had my arm around him,
which was one of the only pictures ever of us, uh, taken that way.
Parents began coming in.
And we got to meet everybody.
We had the picnic and ate.
There was kind of a family reunion.
And then there was a quiet time.
And Dick said, "Let's take a walk on the beach."
It was a cool day.
It wasn't a warm, Florida sunshine-y day.
Dick walked as far as he could see the shuttle,
and he looked at it and he said, "That's home away from home for a while."
And then he turned and started singing a song.
"For you are beautiful, and I love you more than words can say."
And I kept hearing those words in my mind.
It was the song "The Last Farewell."
And it was kind of a goodbye.
We loved each other so much. We'd been married for 26 years.
[anchor] The countdown is underway tonight at Cape Canaveral
toward Sunday's scheduled launch of the shuttle Challenger,
a liftoff that will carry America's first teacher into space.
[McDonald] I was at the Cape for the launch.
I remember there were really no real issues that came up pending the weather,
and the weatherman gave this briefing, saying that, in his opinion,
there was a very high probability of rain showers during the launch window.
So NASA management decided, and this is something they hardly ever did--
Usually, even if it's a bad forecast, they go ahead and press ahead,
but in this case for some reason, they decided to scrub the launch.
[reporter] Space agency officials called off the launch late last night
after air force meteorologist said they expected rain and thunderstorms
during the entire three-hour launch window.
[McDonald] I mean, I was really glad that they did,
because that happened to be Super Bowl Sunday.
[announcer] The first refrigerator to score.
And the largest running back ever to score a touchdown.
[McDonald] I did get to see the Super Bowl.
But the showers they were worried about didn't come in until late that afternoon,
so we missed a perfectly good day to launch.
[reporter] NASA gambled and lost.
A cold front expected to move over the Kennedy Space Center early Sunday
didn't until about 10:30 a.m., nearly an hour after the shuttle Challenger
was supposed to have lifted off.
But space agency officials say
weather should not be a problem for a Monday-morning launch.
John Zarrella, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
They don't delay unless there's-- it's not perfect,
and that's fine with me.
I'd be much happier if it went up when everybody thought it was perfect
than to go up on a chance basis. [chuckles]
[Christa laughing]
[reporter 2] Officially, Christa is now in quarantine,
only allowed to see members of her family,
and only after they have first seen a doctor.
-Have a little bit of trepidation? -A little bit. Yeah. It's...
As the day comes closer, I feel a little bit more of it.
[Lisa Bristol] My mom and dad were nervous for her,
and I was concerned for her as well.
But we didn't wanna make a big deal out of our worry,
because she was so excited about it. We were all excited for her.
Make sure you stay six feet away from me. I'm in quarantine.
How does the liftoff look for Monday morning? How does the weather look?
The front is gonna move through this area very rapidly tomorrow,
bringing overcast clouds with a lot of rain,
and we're expecting this to clear up Monday
and have great weather for the launch.
[woman] T-minus two hours, 26 minutes, 19 seconds, and counting.
This is shuttle launch control.
[commentator] And here we are.
-Commander Dick Scobee, the 51L crew. -[cameras snapping]
And a big wave to all the members of the media.
[Harwood] So they recycled for a Monday launch attempt on the 27th,
and I'll never forget this,
because after the crew got put on board the shuttle...
[radio operator] Go ahead.
[radio operator 2] Okay, we're closing the hatch now.
[radio operator] Copy that.
[Harwood] As they were closing the hatch,
they could not get the bolts to engage to lock the hatch in place.
[commentator 2] T-minus 15 minutes and counting.
The hatch on the Challenger continues to be a problem as we prepare for launch.
[reporter] A handle attached to the outside of the shuttle's hatch
had to be unscrewed and removed before takeoff as usual.
Today, the threads of one screw were stripped.
[Harwood] They sent a team of technicians out to the pad
to bring some tools out to help them fix this situation,
and I remember you could see these guys in their van going out to the pad.
They're going the speed limit.
And all the time the winds are building up, you know,
the weather's deteriorating.
It's like, "Come on. Come on. Get out there and fix this thing."
[McDonald] This crew came up with this huge suitcase
full of battery-operated tools,
because you can't use anything other than battery-operated
once the fuel's in the tank.
[crew member] We expect to drill out the problem screw within about 15 minutes.
[McDonald] The problem was all of the batteries were dead.
I thought, "Gee, this is more like watching a rerun of The Three Stooges
than launching a space shuttle."
Finally, they came back with this real high-tech aerospace tool.
It was called a hacksaw.
They literally started cutting this handle,
pretty thick aluminum bar, off of there,
and you don't do that in a few seconds.
They used up most of the launch window.
[crew member] The winds have been increasing during the past hour.
Those winds presently are no go for launch.
We are going to scrub for today.
We are in the process of letting the crew out of the orbiter,
and they will go back to the crew quarters.
[reporter] The astronauts and Christa were naturally disappointed by the delay,
but so were thousands who had come to witness the flight.
I was disappointed.
I was really mad that it didn't go off.
I just hope we can stay till tomorrow to see it.
[reporter 2] Those winds are expected to subside Tuesday,
but by then, other weather factors come into play.
[man] Well, they're calling for temperatures well below freezing tonight.
That does present a real problem.
Now, the launch team will look at the forecast tonight
and make a decision as to whether or not they'll try again for tomorrow morning.
[Aldrich] We had a program assessment review
where all of the program managers from all of the contractors
and all of the centers are there...
and we discussed everybody's flight readiness.
Everybody was asked to go back and look at their systems
and see what going down to 22 degrees the night before would mean.
[phone ringing]
I was notified by NASA about a weather situation down in Florida
that says this may be a cold-weather launch.
I contacted Bob Lund, who was our vice president of engineering,
and said, "You need to call your folks together
and give us an assessment of anything on the solid rocket motor
that we might be concerned of if there's gonna be a cold-weather launch.
We're gonna have a teleconference later today
with whatever charts you wanna prepare
so that we can make an assessment and report that."
I recall quite distinctly when Bob got that phone call,
and I said, "The O-rings."
And there was just no question in my mind
that that was not a good thing for the O-rings.
[Marcia Jarvis] The night before,
we had dinner at crew quarters with everybody.
Wasn't like this... big farewell,
because... the feeling was that it wasn't gonna happen.
[June] Eventually, that night, Dick said,
"We won't be flying tomorrow. It's too cold."
Um, so we thought that flight was also postponed.
[Harwood] This is Monday night, going into the morning of the 28th.
The cold front came in. And it was so cold in the UPI trailer,
we had the baseboard heaters cranked full bore,
and I was writing with a down coat on. I mean, it was freezing.
Arctic air has forced temperatures into the teens and below throughout the South,
and well below freezing in Florida's citrus groves.
[John Zarella] CNN says, "The shuttle's not going.
Can you guys go cover the freeze in the orange groves?"
Orange crop in Florida was the biggest agricultural crop in the state.
After successive freezes Christmas of '83 and January of '85,
Florida's citrus growers needed a break...
[Russell] We had a big, nice conference room upstairs.
Joe Kilminster was up at the head of the table.
Bob Ebeling was just off of the table but up toward the front.
I sat in one of the side chairs about midway back.
[Kilminster] We had Kennedy Space Center on the line.
[McDonald] During the teleconference,
we were in this conference room that was actually in a trailer
just south of the vehicle assembly building.
There were five of us in the conference room.
Back at the plant, the people that were most knowledgeable
on the O-ring joint problem gave the presentation.
With charts prepared by the engineers, for the most part, handwritten.
[Kilminster] Our engineers, they were concerned
that the O-rings were gonna be colder
than any we'd ever launched,
that it might be worse this time than we've ever seen.
[Russell] We believed the risk was higher. We didn't know how much higher.
We didn't know at what point would be the-- the point of-- of failure,
but we knew that it was in the-- We called "the direction of badness"
versus the direction of goodness.
My dad's hopes were to actually stop it.
He didn't want them to launch.
He felt that, "We'll tell them what's happening, and, you know,
they'll slide it back to when it's not that cold."
[Russell] But then Larry Mulloy in Florida came on the phone,
and he made an argument, which basically was the fact
that we are taking no additional risk.
[Mulloy] The data did not support
the recommendation that the engineers were making.
The data was totally inconclusive.
[McDonald] Larry Mulloy asked for Thiokol's official recommendation.
[Kilminster] And that's when our vice president of engineering
made the decision that we shouldn't okay the launch.
[McDonald] Well, Larry Mulloy asked
the Assistant Center Director for Engineering
at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center what his position was.
He said, "I'm appalled Morton-Thiokol can make such a recommendation."
But he said, "I wouldn't go against the contractors' recommendation."
At that point, the vice president of engineering said that we not launch
below 53 degrees Fahrenheit.
Larry Mulloy says, "Good God, Thiokol.
When do you want me to launch, next April?"
I was angry at them for what I considered to be an irrational decision.
[Russell] That was an intimidating comment
that shouldn't have been made that came out of a source of arrogance, in my view,
that did have an impact on the spirit in that room.
[McDonald] Normally, we're always challenged
to prove that it's safe to launch.
Now, all of a sudden
I got the impression they were gonna ask us to prove that it would fail.
And we could not do that.
[Kilminster] At this point, our boss said, "I think we need to talk this over.
Can we go offline and have a caucus?" And they agreed.
[McDonald] When they went offline with the caucus,
I had no idea what they were discussing back in Utah.
It was planned to be five minutes, but we were there a little over a half hour.
[Kilminster] We were trying to look at the data
and just make sure that it supported our decision.
[Russell] At that point, the senior engineer,
the expert on the O-ring erosion,
he came over on the desk at the head of the table
and made a very passionate plea.
He said, "I wouldn't launch under these conditions."
To a man, all of the engineers that were in that room
were in agreement with the recommendation that we originally made.
The general manager at that time finally said that he would take a poll.
But he only polled the senior managers in the room.
Then he polled the vice president of engineering,
and he kind of hummed and hawed about what to do and was torn,
and that's when the general manager said,
"It's time to take off your engineering hat and put on your management hat."
[Kilminster] And then our vice president of engineering made the decision that,
in essence, agreed with what Mulloy said,
the correlation wasn't really there,
and that we ought to say it's okay to launch.
And I have to tell you that I agreed with him,
and so I supported that decision.
[phone ringing]
[McDonald] We went and answered the phone.
My boss, Joe Kilminster, came on and said,
"Even though the low temperatures are concerning,"
that "we have reassessed the data and have concluded that
it is inconclusive,"
which was the very words that Mulloy had used,
and that based on that, they feel it's okay to proceed
on with the launch as planned.
And I, frankly, was shocked.
I couldn't understand why they could make that judgment.
So then the Assistant Center Director said,
"We really need that recommendation to be put in writing
and signed by a responsible Thiokol official."
And my immediate reaction was,
"They aren't very comfortable with this either, and it's a CYA operation."
If something happens, they're gonna cover their ass.
[Russell] Joe Kilminster was the vice president of the program
and had the authority, and so he is the one who signed it.
I knew how to run the fax machine, and I'm the one who sent it down.
[high-pitched droning]
That's the time that I wish-- I wish so badly that I'd have just said,
"There's a dissenting view here."
Just to let them know that this wasn't a unanimous decision,
but that there was at least one person, if not many,
who believed that we should stick with the original recommendation.
[wind whistling]
[commentator] Good morning. This is shuttle launch control.
Filling of the shuttle Challenger's external tank
with its flight load of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
was started at about 4:00 a.m.
The crew is still sleeping at this time.
Departure for the pad, Pad B, is scheduled
for about ten minutes of 8:00.
Day of the launch, the Kennedy people had decided to turn all the water spigots on
on the launch tower.
So, when we got out to the launch pad about 5:00 in the morning,
the whole thing was covered with ice.
[commentator 2] These icicles are a result of water systems on the pad
which had to be kept running during the night in order to prevent freezing.
[Harwood] When those engines start up,
the ice can break off and damage the heat shield.
So that was a very concerning problem. We kept listening to the radio.
We had scanners where we'd try to listen in on what's going on.
[commentator 2] The icicles that are a concern
are approximately one foot to two foot in length,
and there are many of them all over the service structure.
I remember I didn't sleep very much that night,
and I actually got to the launch pad early.
The first thing I did is I looked at the monitors,
and I saw all these icicles hanging on the fixed service structure,
some on the vehicle.
And the reaction was, "They're not gonna launch this thing today. It's scrubbed."
On the morning of the launch,
we came in about five hours before scheduled liftoff,
assembled the Houston crew.
I was the lead capcom, or the lead capsule communicator.
And I was sitting next to Dick Covey,
who was the ascent or the launch capcom for that mission.
[Covey] There was a lot of concern about the cold and ice.
That was kind of hanging over us as we went through the normal routines
of getting the crew out to the Challenger.
[reporter] This will be the second countdown
for what's going to be known as the teacher flight.
A lot of people around the country are going to be watching this one
if it gets off today as they sincerely hope it does.
[reporter 2] This Girl Scout troop from South Carolina
raised $2,000 to see a former Girl Scout lift off into space.
We're gonna stay and watch it get off.
No matter what the weather.
No matter what.
[Billingsly] There were a series of buses, and we were driven out to the viewing pad.
We all kind of slipped into the grandstand.
It was so exciting.
I remember feeling fairly close to everything.
And we would be watching the launch with Christa's family.
[Lisa] My parents and I, my husband, my brother, were in the stands.
None of us had witnessed a liftoff before, so it was like a party-like atmosphere.
[reporter] A crowd of some 500 spectators, including 18 visiting school children
from McAuliffe's hometown of Concord, New Hampshire wait anxiously.
Up at Christa's school in Concord, New Hampshire,
they crowded into the cafeteria to watch the big event on television.
We want her to hurry up and go up
so, you know, we can find out what it's gonna be really like.
[woman] I was in the Concord High auditorium.
We had party hats. We had noise makers.
We were all excited. Teachers were excited.
The whole city of Concord was excited.
Our teacher, Christa, was going into space.
[commentator] The ten-member ice crew
and six-member debris and road crew team are now on their way into the pad.
They'll go first to inspect the tank aft dome and the shuttle engines.
They delayed the launch. I think it was originally 9:38 in the morning.
They delayed two hours to 11:38.
You could see them on television, up and down the gantry, you know,
scanning, looking for signs of ice.
[commentator 2] The ice inspection crew continuing to take a look
at the external tank and the orbiter.
I called the mission evaluation room where all of the engineers
were assembled, supporting the control center...
They had run calculations, and they said the ice would not hit the orbiter.
I polled the room on whether we should go.
Everybody at the table voted to go.
[Harwood] It was a totally clear sky.
You know, it was Mars to CAVU, as we used to say, "clear and visibility unlimited."
It's an old test pilot phrase. It was just a beautiful day.
It was just very cold.
[woman] This is shuttle launch control, and here comes the 51L flight crew,
boarding the elevator for the second time in two days,
ready to depart the O&C building for the launch pad.
[June] Dick called and said, "We are going to fly."
I said, "There's icicles hanging everywhere."
He said, "No, they told us they've knocked all the icicles off. We can fly."
He said in his traditional way,
"Honey, I'll be back in a week. Take care."
[launch control] Big smiles today, confidently getting into the van.
Attempt a second try at launch today.
[Lisa] I spoke to Christa the night before.
She said she was a little bit nervous, had some butterflies.
And I had asked her about the ice and the coldness,
and she said that she felt that they would take care of that,
that she had full faith in NASA.
[launch control] The closeout crew has arrived at the pad now,
to the white room where they'll begin getting things ready for the flight crew.
The astronaut support person will don some headgear
and verify that the communications between the orbiter
and the firing room are working properly.
It'll take a few minutes for the astronaut van to get to the pad.
Ten mile or so trip to Launch Pad B.
[Russell] The launch had a two-hour delay,
and so I decided to go into the conference room.
The conference room was absolutely full,
and I was just as nervous as I could be.
[Leslie] My dad let me in.
I sat in front of him, and the engineers sat in front of me.
Dad leaned down and told me that he was
praying and praying that this was going to work out.
[commentator] The first crew member, Commander Dick Scobee,
now in the white room,
taking off his jacket along with Mike Smith, who is the pilot.
[Jane] We all went up to the roof of launch control center
and were out watching the launch,
and it was a beautiful, crazy cold day.
It was just a very exciting, thrilling moment,
finally he was gonna go do what he had planned to do.
And we were standing together.
[commentator] Mike Smith shaking hands with the closeout crew
which has assisted him in getting ready.
Everything continues to look favorable now
for a launch of the 51L Mission at 11:38.
[man over radio] CDR, this is LTD on air-to-ground one. I read...
-[man 2] All clear. Good morning. -[man 1] Good morning.
[reporter] The teacher Christa McAuliffe
has been handed an apple by the closeout crew.
[Frederick Gregory] In Houston, we would wait for the liftoff,
and there's actually very little conversation that occurs.
It's a time of wait.
[commentator] The ground one sequencer program has been initiated.
The ground launch sequencer has started retracting the orbiter crew access arm.
[announcer] Roger Wilco.
[man] This is mission control Houston.
Flight controllers have been on console here and are ready to support launch.
[announcer] Okay, let's go for ET... pressurization.
[commentator] The liquid hydrogen tank now at flight pressure,
and all three engines ready to go.
The pilot Mike Smith has cleared the caution and memory systems.
No unexpected errors reported.
[radio operator] Sixteen's getting ready to go airborne.
[NASA worker] Okay, thanks.
[commentator] The 51L Mission ready to go.
T-minus 15 seconds. We've had a go for auto sequence start.
[water adviser] Water should come down.
[announcer] T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six...
We have main engine start. Four, three, two, one...
And liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission.
[cheering]
[Billingsly] You can feel the engines,
and it's visceral and it's happening, and it's just so euphoric.
[announcer] And it has cleared the tower.
Bye, Christa! Bye, crew!
[Lisa] The launchpad looks like it's far away,
but when the shuttle goes, you feel it, you hear it, you see it.
I turned to my brother and I said, "Isn't it beautiful?"
[mission control] Mission Control, roll program.
[Covey] Commander says, "Roll program, Houston."
Control of the space shuttle shifts from the launch control center
to the mission control center in Houston.
My response...
Roger roll, Challenger.
That is to make sure we can hear them and that they can hear us.
[mission control] Roll program confirmed. Challenger now heading downrange.
Three engines running normally. Three good fuel cells.
Normal throttle. It's at 104%.
Engines beginning throttling down now. At 94%.
[Leslie] In the conference room, there was a great relief.
And my dad leaned down, and he said, "We're not done yet."
[mission control] Engines throttling up. Every engine now at 104%.
-Challenger, go with throttle up. -[Mike Smith] Roger, go to throttle up.
[indistinct murmuring]
[Billingsly] We saw a flash.
And everyone I think even kinda said, "Oh, that's the solid rocket boosters."
We think this is what we were supposed to see.
But then someone said there might be a problem, and this started to spread.
[mission control] Flight controllers here, looking very carefully at the situation.
[indistinct murmuring]
[Lisa] My parents were very quiet.
[mission control] Obviously, a major malfunction.
[Lisa] We weren't certain what we were looking at.
But we knew it wasn't right.
[control] We have a report from the flight dynamics officer
that the vehicle has exploded.
And the voice came back on the loudspeaker and said,
"The vehicle has exploded."
And that was it.