Twenty years ago today, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger took to the skies above Cape Canaveral, FL. Just 73 seconds into its flight, however, the unthinkable happened, as the space vehicle exploded in what was described at the moment, "a major malfunction."

The resultant commission, called upon by President Reagan, later found that a faulty O-Ring located in the left solid-rocket-booster (SRB), further damaged by the extreme cold that fateful morning, was the cause of the accident.

Two-hundred and fifty people joined a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center today, to honor the Shuttle's commander, Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, and astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

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If you are curious to read or puruse through the commision's report to President Reagan, it can be accessed here:

Report of the PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident

I was only 8 years old at the time, but I still remember it... vividly...