Because German TV did not offer live coverage of the Challenger launch that day and CNN wasn’t available yet, I had a tape recorder running, too – recording the short wave live coverage on the Voice of America.
STS-51L - Launch Flight Directors Loop28th January 1986 - 16:38 GMT This is coverage of the 51L countdown, from the T-9 minute point through the launch, accident and post accident period using just the available Flight Directors communication loop. The Orbiter Test Conductor (OTC) audio loop can also be heard on the flight director loop during the countdown. Hugh Harris' s countdown and Steve Nesbitt's PAO commentary after lift-off have been removed from the audio. This audio has been put together from four different sources. Special thanks to Paolo Mangili for the viewing of his 51L video composition and use of the end part of this audio and also for the MOCR footage synch, which helped me place the footage in the right places and saved a huge amount of work. Audio is not the best quality at first, but improves. OTC audio is approximated in the countdown because of overlaps in the original audio with the Hugh Harris commentary. All video/audio is courtesy NASA
STS-51L Flight Director/Launch Commentator Press ConferenceLaunch Director Jay Greene and Launch Commentator Steve Nesbitt answered press questions on January 29th 1986.All video courtesy NASA
STS-51L KSC Post Accident Press Conference A few hours after the Challenger accident and the loss of the STS-51L crew, NASA Commentator Hugh Harris and NASA Associate Administrator of Spaceflight, Jesse Moore. Mr. Moore announces the official NASA announcement of the crews' loss.All video courtesy NASA