Space Shuttle Shuttle orbiter fleet. Sources: NASA launch manifest, NASA Space Shuttle archive On January 28, 1986, "Challenger" disintegrated 73 seconds after launch due to the failure of the right SRB, killing all seven astronauts on board. The disaster was caused by low-temperature impairment of an O-ring, a mission critical seal used between segments of the SRB casing. Failure of the O-ring allowed hot combustion gases to escape from between the booster sections and burn through the adjacent external tank, causing it to explode. Repeated warnings from design engineers voicing concerns about the lack of evidence of the O-rings' safety when the
Space Shuttle or left stranded after it is destroyed by a shower of high speed orbital debris. The 2017 Lego film "The Lego Batman Movie" features a hybrid between the Batmobile and a Space Shuttle, named "the Bat Space Shuttle" by Dick Grayson. It's clearly based on the Lego City set 3367 ("Space Shuttle"), but is black and weapon-equipped. The Space Shuttle has also been the subject of toys and models; for example, a large Lego Space Shuttle model was constructed by visitors at Kennedy Space Center, and smaller models have been sold commercially as a standard "LegoLand" set. A 1980 pinball