Description

Color photograph of NASA's space shuttle Challenger attached to two solid rocket boosters and an additional fuel tank blasting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ronald E. McNair was part of the crew on the shuttle.

Original caption: "Color 3 February 1984 Kennedy Space Center, Florida 41-B LAUNCH --- Beginning a busy year, NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger, attached to two solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank which it will later jettison, blasts off from Pad A at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 at 8: a.m. (EST), February 3, 1984. Inside the spacecraft are Astronauts Vance D. Brand, Robert L. Gibson, Bruce McCandless II, Ronald E. McNair and Robert L. Stewart. Brand is making his first trip in the Challenger but his second STS flight and third spaceflight overall. The rest of the crewmembers are experiencing space travel for the first time. Marching a space first, this flight will be landing at KSC [Kennedy Spcae Center]."

Original credit line: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration job number S-84-26324