The ill-fated flight of space shuttle Challenger began at 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986. Failure of a rubber O-ring in one of the solid rocket booster joints caused an explosion that destroy the shuttle and claimed the lives of commander Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ron McNair and payload specialists Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space. Challenger was carrying the TDRS B and Spartan 203 satellites.