The brilliant Judith Resnik was the first Jewish American person to make it to space. She died tragically in the Challenger disaster. | Kveller.com

On Jan. 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle “Challenger” disaster unfolded live on television, shocking the nation. The lives of all the astronauts — Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Michael Smith and Ellison Onizuka — are honored today with memorials across the country. Where were you when the Space Shuttle “Challenger” disaster happened? | AARP

At 11:38 am EST on #ThisDayInHistory in 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Seventy-three seconds later, the shuttle broke up into fire and smoke. All seven astronauts on board the Challenger were killed: Christa McAuliffe (a New Hampshire teacher chosen for NASA’s 1985 Teacher in Space project), Dick Scobee, Ellison Onizuka (first Asian American astronaut and first astronaut of Japanese descent), Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, and Ronald