To understand the challenges of satellite construction, student teams design and create model spacecraft to protect vital components from the harsh conditions found on Mercury and Venus. They use slices of butter in plastic eggs to...

Although this is an instructor guide, there is much information here regarding the Challenger disaster. Young scholars are instructed to consider the engineering ethics that came into question after the disaster. What could have been...

Students are introduced to the engineering challenges involved with interplanetary space travel. In particular, they learn about the gravity assist or "slingshot" maneuver often used by engineers to send spacecraft to the outer planets....

A copy of the New York Times January 28, 1986 edition headlining the horrific explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger.

A biography of Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel to space. She flew on two Space Shuttle Challenger missions. After the Challenger disaster in 1986, she served on the Presidential Commission investigating the accident, and...

The official NASA biography for Judith A. Resnik who was the mission specialist on board the Challenger spacecraft when it exploded in 1986.

On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. But first, he was a...