The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Others on Mission 51-L are Francis R. Scobee, Navy Cmdr. Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Air Force Lt. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, and Gregory B. Jarvis. The manned space program will be halted for two years while vehicular and management flaws are corrected.
In the final few hours before the Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day recess on May 26, lawmakers approved a raft of some 3,400 pending military nominations, including a number of high-profile Air Force and Space Force generals to assignments that will significantly reshape some of the upper echelons of…