Challenger Disaster Was Filmed by Family on Vacation

A second amateur video of the Challenger space shuttle explosion has surfaced — by a tourist in Orlando, Fla., who says he didn't realize that he had been filming history in the making, reports the Daily Mail in Britain.

The tape was made by Bob Karman at Orlando International Airport, just before he and his family returned to Hicksville, N.Y., from a vacation at Disney World on Jan. 28, 1986.

Karman, a nurse, told the New Scientist magazine: "After shooting the video, I had a sense that something went wrong but it wasn't until we were on the plane that the pilot confirmed the tragedy," the Daily Mail reported.

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Voices on the film can be heard saying, "They're on their way ... boy, what a ride," New Scientist reported, according to the Daily Mail.

Until the discovery of Karman's tape, the only known home video of the Challenger disaster was a four-minute clip made by Jack Moss at his home in Winter Haven, Fla., the Daily Mail reported.

Challenger exploded and broke up 73 seconds after its 11:38 a.m. launch from the Kennedy Space Center. The cause was a faulty seal in one of the shuttle's rockets.

The Challenger crew included New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who beat 11,000 candidates to win the Teacher In Space Project chance to teach American students from space.