Today, we observe the 40th anniversary of the Challenger space shuttle catastrophe, a tragic event that unfolded just 73 seconds after liftoff.

Broadcasted live, this horrific incident was witnessed by millions, including schoolchildren and viewers worldwide, as it played out on television screens everywhere.

Among those on board was Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from New Hampshire, selected from over 11,000 hopefuls to become NASA’s inaugural teacher in space.

The NASA shuttle orbiter broke apart in mid-air, just over a minute after take-off on January 28, 1986.

New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe was onboard – she had been chosen from more than 11,000 applicants to become NASA‘s first teacher in space.

The other six crew members who died were payload specialist Gregory Jarvis, mission specialist Judith A Resnik, mission commander Francis R Scobee, mission specialist Ronald E McNair, pilot Mike J Smith, and mission specialist Ellison S Onizuka.

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Millions watched as the NASA shuttle orbiter ascended to an altitude of 12.3 miles before exploding and free-falling into the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the school children watching shared their memory of seeing the deadly accident live, and revealed the chilling reason their teacher shed a tear.

They said: “I was in 10th grade in high school psychology class in a Houston suburb.

“When Challenger blew, the teacher started crying. Nobody I knew had EVER seen him with anything but a smile on his face – never angry, never annoyed, and never sad.

“It turns out that the reason we were watching it (though we’d never watched a launch before) was because he had submitted his paperwork to be in the Teacher in Space program.

“He knew that could have been him. I can still see his face.”

Another shared that their entire school gathered to watch the doomed launch together, because one of the astronauts had been local.

They called watching the shuttle explode “traumatic”.

They said: “I was in the first or second grade, don’t remember. But I was in school in Centralia, Washington, at the time, and because one of the astronauts was from Washington State, it was a big deal

“So they had the entire school in assembly watching the launch on a giant TV cart.

“It was traumatic… Hundreds of kids, grades K-8, watching in stunned silence, and then the crying began.

“They cancelled school for a couple days after that.”

Another who watched the disaster in school said the screening made them realise “that adults didn’t really know what they were doing a lot of the time”.

What went wrong?

THE SPACE Shuttle Challenger OV-099 burst apart in a fiery explosion just over a minute after take-off, killing all seven inside.

But the spacecraft was doomed before it even left the launchpad.

Central Florida was freezing the day Challenger was planned to take off – thick ice on the launchpad had even delayed lift-off.

The cold weather has been blamed for the horror explosion that was broadcast to millions, 40 years ago today.

The shuttle came apart when an O-ring seal failed in one of the rocket boosters.

Near-freezing temperatures had made the rubber seals brittle.

This structural failure meant that hot gases were able to escape and catch fire.

Once the fuel tank ignited, a huge fireball ripped through Challenger until the enormous pressure caused the shuttle to explode.

The spacecraft was ripped to pieces just over a minute into its flight, leaving seven dead and millions traumatised by the horror that had unfolded on live TV.

They posted: “I was in 4th or 5th grade, and our class was brought out into a bigger room to watch it with a couple of other classes on the special TV they wheeled out.

“When we all realized it had exploded and they were all dying it was a horrifying moment.

Everyone was quiet, and the teachers didn’t know what to say. They herded us back into our classrooms.”

“It was one of the first times it really [sank] in for me that adults didn’t really know what they were doing a lot of the time.”

Another added that they witnessed the horror unfold first-hand, writing: “I saw it in person. Was with a surfer from Cocoa Beach who had seen rockets go up all his life.

“When we saw the big puff of smoke and two contrails, he said ‘Dude, that’s not supposed to happen that way.’”