STS-51-L Debris Aboard the USCG Cutter Dallas

(January 30, 1986) On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger and her seven-member crew were lost when a ruptured O-ring in the right Solid Rocket Booster caused an explosion soon after launch. With the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy, search and recovery teams began retrieving pieces of the Shuttle from the Atlantic Ocean soon after the accident. Vessels brought the debris to the Trident Basin at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where they waited to be shipped to Kennedy Space Center for investigation. The USCG Cutter Dallas transported this fragment of exterior tiling.