Michael J. Smith was an American NASA astronaut and United States Navy officer who served as pilot on the Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-51-L in January 1986, his only spaceflight. He was among the seven crew members killed when Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch due to the failure of a solid rocket booster seal, a disaster that led to a lengthy grounding of the Shuttle fleet and a major redesign of the boosters.
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