William Ray Lucas, who led the NASA facility that shouldered much of the blame for the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, has died. Lucas was 102. Lucas died Monday at his home in ...

(AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Following an apparently flawless launch, a catastrophic explosion blew apart the space shuttle Challenger 74 seconds after lift-off Tuesday. The explosion occurred about ...

Those elements — and the climate at Marshall under Lucas’ direction — came under intense scrutiny when the space shuttle orbiter Challenger exploded Jan. 28, 1986, shortly after launch from ...

William R. Lucas, a NASA rocket scientist who helped shape the nation's first satellite as well as its first space station, and who later shouldered part of the blame for the 1986 explosion that ...

Without addressing the specifics of the explosion or his decision not to share concerns about the O-rings, he also suggested that disasters like the Challenger tragedy — which received fresh ...