Images: The 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster
In this 1986 photo, Christa McAuliffe, left, and Barbara Morgan, right, laugh during training.
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The space shuttle Challenger lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. shortly before it exploded with a crew of seven aboard. (AP Photo/Thom Baur)
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This Jan. 28, 1986 shows an unusual flame jutting from the side of a solid rocket booster on the space shuttle Challenger during its launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. A subsequent explosion killed its crew of seven.
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The space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
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Johnson Space Center Director Michael L. Coats places a rose on a marker for space shuttle Columbia astronaut Ilan Ramon in the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Johnson Space Center.
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A wreath commemorating the seven astronauts who perished in the space shuttle Challenger accident rests in the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Johnson Space Center
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Johnson Space Center Director Michael L. Coats, left, stands with Lorena Onizaka and Darien Onizuka-Morgan, the wife and daughter of space shuttle Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka, after placing flowers on a memorial marker for Onizuka in the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Johnson Space Center.
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Sandy Anderson, widow of space shuttle Columbia astronaut Michael Anderson, is comforted by astronaut Carlos Noriega during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony in the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove at the Johnson Space Center on Thursday, Jan. 27th in Houston.
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A red rose rests on a marker for space shuttle Challenger commander Francis R. Dick Scobee during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony in the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove at the Johnson Space Center.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator (NASA) Charles Bolden lays a wreath at a Challenger memorial, at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va.
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A group of NASA T-38 jet trainer aircraft perform a flyover of the Astronaut Memorial Tree Grove during the annual National Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Johnson Space Center.
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The crew of the space shuttle Challenger. From left are Ellison Onizuka, Mike Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Greg Jarvis, Ron McNair and Judith Resnik.
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