Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space - Hardcoverby Adam Higginbotham (Author) From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute by minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in depth reporting and new archival research a 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.