[Avid Reader Press] Winner of the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Award in Nonfiction • Winner of the 2024 Kirkus Nonfiction Prize • Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • A New York Times Notable Book of 2024 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Stunning…A heart-pounding thriller…Challenger is a remarkable book.” —The Atlantic • “Devastating…A universal story that transcends time.” —The New York Times • “Dramatic…a moving narrative.” —The Wall Street Journal From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, “compelling, and exhaustively researched” (The Washington Post) minute-by-minute account of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating 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. Millions of Americans witn