From the pages of the South China Morning Post this week in 1986 A stunned world watched in horror as the crew of the space shuttle Challenger died when their craft exploded into a gigantic fireball over Cape Canaveral just moments after liftoff. All seven crew died in the fiery explosion, which occurred about 75 seconds after what appeared to be a flawless launch. The crew included New Hampshire teacher Crista McAuliffe, 37. Her husband Steve and their children were in the crowd at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch, as were her parents. The shocking spectacle of the explosion was seen by millions of people around the United States who were watching the launch live on television. All 1,200 pupils at McAuliffe's high school were cheering the televised launch and lapsed into silent disbelief when the space shuttle exploded. The six-day mission was to have included two 15-minute lessons beamed down by McAuliffe to about 2.5 million children in the US and Canada. The crew was headed by navy commander Francis Scobee. The others were Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizula, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis. It was the 25th flight in the shuttle series and the 10th launch of the Challenger. It was the first in-flight disaster in 56 US manned space missions and it brought government business to a halt. President Ronald Reagan postponed his annual State of the Union address, top-level White House meetings were interrupted and both houses of Congress adjourned for the day. President Reagan said it would not mean the end of US efforts to conquer space. 'Sometimes we forget ... we've only just begun ...What happened today won't put an end to it. The future does not belong to the faint-hearted. It belongs to the brave,' he said. A coroner's jury returned a verdict of death by natural causes on a 59-year-old renal patient who was left to die in hospital after his family refused to take him back for home renal treatment. The jury recommended investigation of a method of implementing a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis programme throughout the public health service. The patient died of chronic renal failure due to diabetic nephropathy. The death came five days after he was admitted to Queen Mary Hospital. The family alleged the death was caused by insufficient medication and inadequate care. Directing the jury, the coroner said there were thousands of renal patients needing treatment but resources were limited. Doctors had to make the medical or moral decision about who should have treatment and who should not. M.K. Chan, head of the renal team, said he had made it clear to the family that he was accepting the patient only for intermittent peritoneal dialysis (IPD), providing they took him home for home-based renal treatment after they were trained. The family denied agreeing to take the patient home. Dr Chan admitted he reduced the patient's IPD medicine and withdrew treatment because the man's chances of survival were 'zero'. The criteria for treatment then was that patients had to be between 18 and 45 and not suffering from diseases related to renal failure and unrelated diseases with poor prognosis. Before he died, the patient had diabetes, tuberculosis, cardiac problems and renal failure. In the Philippines, Corazon Aquino fired a dramatic shot in the election battle by claiming civil war would follow another victory for Ferdinand Marcos. Victory, she said, was hers and Filipinos were ready to die for a clean election. 'I'm counting on a landslide victory to offset any cheating,' she said. She disclosed that some military leaders had promised her support if she beat President Marcos that week and promised to retire generals who had outstayed their welcome.