Divers find wreckage of USS Challenger in Florida

NASA has confirmed that the wreckage of the Space Shuttle Challenger was discovered off the east coast of Florida, which in 1986 exploded less than two minutes after launch and killed seven people on board, reports The Guardian.

Divers found a fragment in the sand and, since the site was close to the NASA spaceport, contacted the agency. “Though it has been nearly 37 years since seven brave explorers died aboard the Challenger, this tragedy will forever remain in our nation's collective memory”, - NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “For millions of people around the world, myself included, January 28, 1986 still feels like yesterday.”

The Challenger was the second shuttle that NASA launched into space. From 1983 to 1986, he made nine flights, delivered the first American woman and the first African American into space. The latest flight was dubbed "the teacher's flight" by the press, as Christa McAuliffe, 37, a teacher and the first civilian NASA ever sent into space, was on board. McAuliffe had won this right against 11,000 competitors and was about to give a lesson from space to her students.

An investigation that was carried out after the explosion showed that due to low temperatures, the equipment was damaged, in particular the sealing rings, which prevent the leakage of liquids and depressurization. After the explosion, NASA put a brake on its civilian flight program.