Destroyed spacecraft

American Space Shuttle orbiter

American Space Shuttle orbiter

On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated about 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 16:39:13 UTC. It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight.

On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second of two Space Shuttle missions to end in disaster, after the loss of Challenger and crew in 1986.

former NASA space observatory

U.S. space probe destroyed due to a launch failure

spacecraft