when the space shuttle challenger exploded in flight on january 28 1968 the crew cabin separated from the rest of the orbiter and broke up when it hit the water. the cabin was equipped with tape recorders to collect shuttle data and record conversations among the crew. however there was no black box to protect the tape as is used in air planes. thus when yhe tapes were found six weeds later in 90 feet of water they were considerably damaged by exposure to seawater