When did Houston begin to regain its dependence on the oil industry?
One wave of the population boom ended abruptly in the mid-1980s, as oil prices fell precipitously. The space industry also suffered in 1986 after the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after launch. There was a cutback in some activities for a period. In the late 1980s, the city's economy suffered from the nationwide recession. After the early 1990s recession, Houston made efforts to diversify its economy by focusing on aerospace and health care/biotechnology, and reduced its dependence on the petroleum industry. Since the increase of oil prices in the 2000s, the petroleum industry has again increased its share of the local economy.