The morning of 28 January 1986 was bitterly cold at Kennedy Space Center, with icicles clinging to the launch structure. At 11:38 a.m. EST, Space Shuttle Challenger roared skyward on Mission 51-L, carrying seven souls: Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and Judith Resnik, Payload Specialist Gregory Jarvis, and Teacher-in-Space Christa McAuliffe. Seventy-three seconds into flight, the vehicle was engulfed in an explosive burn of hydrogen and oxygen. The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident—chaired by William P. Rogers and known ever after as the Rogers Commission—determined that the cause was the failure of the pressure seal in the aft field joint of the right Solid Rocket Motor, a design unacceptably sensitive to temperature, physical dimensions, and dynamic loading. The Commission’s report, delivered to the President on 6 June 1986, also found that the decision-making process was flawed, with a disconnect between engineering data and management judgment. The loss of Challenger shook the nation and led to a 32-month grounding of the fleet, a redesign of the solid rocket boosters, and profound changes in NASA’s safety culture. The crew’s sacrifice became a solemn reminder that the path to the stars is carved with both triumph and sorrow.