Liftoff Videos
Every mission, with the videos that tell it
Every mission we cover, by year.
Mission: 1986Published: 2 Nov 2026
Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launching from Kennedy Space Center on January 28, 1986, killing all seven crew.
Published: 2 Nov 2026
A souvenir box of thirteen NASA photograph cards, labelled "Columbia Space Shuttle", is used to tell the story of the shuttle era.
Space Shuttle Challenger, on mission 51-L, lifted off at 11:38 a.m. on January 28, 1986 and broke apart 73 seconds later, killing all seven crew.
Mission: 1986Published: 1 Nov 2026
On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff on mission 51-L, and all seven crew members died.
A documented walk through the Rogers Commission findings on the loss of Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986.
A documentary on the Challenger accident of January 28, 1986, when the shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds into flight with the loss of all seven astronauts.
Published: 1 Nov 2026
An explainer on why Starship's heat shield uses hexagonal tiles and why full reuse depends on how much work the shield needs between flights.
A documentary on the Challenger mission 51-L, which lifted off at 11:38 on 28 January 1986 and broke apart 73 seconds later.
After Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, its recovered pieces were stored in two former Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral, sealed in 1987 with 10-ton…
An explainer on why Starship's Super Heavy booster has 33 Raptor engines, giving four reasons: redundancy, avoiding the combustion instability that troubled huge engines like the F-1, the throttle…
Built from the Rogers Commission report and sworn hearing testimony, this film follows the roughly 21 hours from the cold forecast reaching Morton Thiokol on Monday 27 January 1986 to 73 seconds…
A documentary on the Challenger launch decision of 28 January 1986, which ended with the breakup of the vehicle 73 seconds after liftoff and the deaths of all seven on board.
Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986, killing all seven astronauts on board.
Mission: 2003Published: 1 Nov 2026
Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas on 1 February 2003 and all seven astronauts were killed.
Published: 26 Aug 2026
Scott Manley explains how NASA recovered the Space Shuttle's two solid rocket boosters from the Atlantic after each flight.
Mission: 2003Published: 31 Jul 2026
An animated documentary on the STS-107 mission of Space Shuttle Columbia, launched on January 16, 2003 for a planned 16-day science flight.
Mission: 2003Published: 14 May 2026
Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on January 16, 2003.
Published: 29 Apr 2026
A documentary tour of the International Space Station told partly through ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet as he prepares for a six-month stay.
Mission: 2003Published: 13 Apr 2026
Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on February 1, 2003, about 16 minutes before its scheduled landing, killing all seven crew members of STS-107.
Mission: 2003Published: 28 Mar 2026
Space Shuttle Columbia launched on January 16, 2003 from Kennedy Space Center on the 17-day STS-107 science mission.
Mission: 1986Published: 28 Jan 2026
NBC4's archived live coverage of the Jan.
Published: 7 Dec 2025
A five-minute survey of space stations: Salyut 1, Skylab, the Salyut program, Mir, the ISS, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2, the Tiangong Space Station, and planned future stations such as the Lunar…
Published: 6 Dec 2025
This documentary-style explainer covers the early assembly of the International Space Station, from Zarya and Unity in 1998 through the 14 shuttle missions up to 2003.
Mission: 2003Published: 28 Nov 2025
A documentary on the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia on 1 February 2003, which killed all seven astronauts on the return from the 16-day STS-107 science mission.
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