Challenger Disaster (AKA Challenger Deception) The Challenger space mission 'disaster' happened on January 28, 1986. The shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff when the shuttle broke apart. As part of the narrative, we are told the explosion killed all seven crew members on board, however, it is questioned whether anyone was on board at all. It is queried whether this was an intentionally planned disaster to provide NASA with the necessary justification to scale back their space explorat