American Apparel Apologizes for Using Challenger Disaster Photo Instead of Fireworks

American Apparel has apologized after posting a photo of the space shuttle Challenger disaster on its Tumblr account, mistaking it for an image of fireworks. The Challenger exploded just 73 seconds into its flight on Jan. 28, 1986, killing all seven people aboard. It's a moment the space exploration industry will never forget. The Tumblr post was tagged "#Smoke" and "#Clouds." It's since been deleted, but screenshots taken by Tumblr users are still available. The post immediately attracted negative attention from online commenters. The company issued an apology on Twitter, blaming the mistake on a young international employee.