Rare Amateur Video of Challenger Disaster Surfaces

By Nancy Atkinson - February 24, 2012 at 6:42 PM UTC | Space Exploration

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news A rare home video that captured the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger Shuttle on Jan. 28, 1986, has been found. Bob Karman and his family were on a return trip from vacation to Disney World, and filmed the launch from the Orlando airport. This is thought to be only the second amateur video taken of the launch, back when home video cameras were just becoming popular.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com