A new era in space travel began with the launch in 1981 of the first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle Columbia. Launched into space by two solid fuel booster rockets, which were jettisoned after take-off for recovery and re-use, the shuttle returned to land like a conventional aircraft. Five shuttles carried out more than 50 successful missions before tragedy struck in January 1986 when Challenger exploded on take-off, killing seven astronauts including the first non-NASA “citizen in space”, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. The shuttle programme was halted for more than two years while design problems were corrected