Challenger : A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction *; Winner of the Kirkus Nonfiction Prize *; Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction *; A New York Times Notable Book

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *; ';StunningA heart-pounding thrillerChallenger is a remarkable book.' The Atlantic *; ';DevastatingA universal story that transcends time.' The New York Times *; ';Dramatica moving narrative.' The Wall Street Journal

From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, ';compelling, and exhaustively researched' (The Washington Post) minute-by-minute account of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating and new archival researcha riveting history that reads like a thriller.

On January 28, 1986, just seventy-three seconds into flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven people on board. Millions of Americans witnessed the tragic deaths of the crew, which included New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Like the assassination of JFK, the Challenger disaster is a defining moment in 20th-century historyone that forever changed the way America thought of itself and its optimistic view of the future. Yet the full story of what happened, and why, has never been told.

Based on extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space follows a handful of central protagonistsincluding each of the seven members of the doomed crewthrough the years leading up to the accident, and offers a detailed account of the tragedy itself and the investigation afterward. It's a compelling tale of ambition and ingenuity undermined by political cynicism and cost-cutting in the interests of burnishing national prestige; of hubris and heroism;