Witness the footage from inside Space Shuttle Columbia, recorded just 15–20 minutes before the disaster struck and the orbiter broke apart, killing all seven crew members on board, including Kalpana Chawla. On 1 February 2003, Columbia was moments away from re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after completing mission STS-107, appearing calm and routine in its final minutes in space. What makes this footage haunting is the silence and normalcy before catastrophe. Damage caused during launch allowed in

40 years ago this morning, the unthinkable happened: the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all 7 astronauts on board, including Christa McAuliffe, who was supposed to be the first teacher in space. School children watched in horror as the tragedy happened. This is original coverage from the Eyewitness News vault. | ABC7NY