Home Video Emerges of Challenger Disaster

Jeffrey Ault's super 8 footage sat untouched for decades
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 11, 2012 5:44 PM CDT

Florida resident Jeffrey Ault was thrilled to shoot home video of the Challenger launch in 1986. The NASA nut had built an Apollo-era Saturn V rocket in elementary school, and as a high school student he routinely wrote the space agency for mission reports. But his exhilaration turned to shock and despair when the shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after launch. The Huffington Post exclusively reveals the footage, saying it is the closest home video ever shot of the disaster. (More NASA stories.)

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