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Day of Remembrance

Each January NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. In 2023, the Day of Remembrance will be observed on Jan. 26, and will also mark the upcoming 20th anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana are seen after a wreath is laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns

Remembering Columbia

The seven-member crew of the STS-107 mission was just 16 minutes from landing on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, when Mission Control lost contact with the shuttle Columbia. A piece of foam, falling from the external tank during launch, had opened a hole in one of the shuttle’s wings, leading to the breakup of the orbiter upon re-entry.
Addressing the nation, President Bush said, “mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.”
More on Columbia
https://www.nasa.gov/remembering-columbia-sts-107/

columbia_sts107
STS-107 Crew (top row l-r ): Mission Specialist 1 David M. Brown, Pilot William C. McCool, Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson (bottom row l-r): Mission Specialist 2 Kalpana Chawla, Commander Rick D. Husband, Mission Specialist 4 Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Payload Specialist 1 Ilan Ramon
NASA
Day of Remembrance
The Space Shuttle Columbia and Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial’s are seen after a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Remembering Challenger

Just 73 seconds after launch on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, a booster engine failed and caused the shuttle Challenger to break apart, taking the lives of all seven crewmembers.
President Ronald Reagan eulogized the crew, quoting from John Gillespie Magee’s poem High Flight: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’ “
More on Challenger
https://www.nasa.gov/challenger-sts-51l-accident/

S85-44253 (November 1985) — Five astronauts and two payload specialists make up the crew, scheduled to fly aboard the space shuttle Challenger in January of 1986. Crew members are (left to right, front row) astronauts Michael J. Smith, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee and Ronald E. McNair; Ellison S. Onizuka, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis and Judith A. Resnik. McAuliffe and Jarvis are payload specialists, representing the Teacher in Space Project and Hughes Company, respectively. Photo credit: NASA (NOTE: On Jan. 28, 1986, the seven Challenger crew members lost their lives following an explosion during the launch phase of the STS-51L mission.)
Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.
McCool Family Representatives Jane Tani, Dan Tani, left, NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, right, give remarks at the Space Shuttle Columbia and Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial’s during a wreath laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Remembering Apollo 1

On Jan. 27, 1967, veteran astronaut Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White, and rookie Roger Chaffee were sitting atop the launch pad for a pre-launch test when a fire broke out in their Apollo capsule.
The investigation into the fatal accident led to major design and engineering changes, making the Apollo spacecraft safer for the coming journeys to the Moon.
More on Apollo 1
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-1/
NASA Memorials and Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-memorials-and-burials-at-arlington-national-cemetery

NASA astronauts, from left, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee visit the Cape Kennedy launch pad.
NASA astronauts, from left, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee visit the Cape Kennedy launch pad.
NASA
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left, Administrator Bill Nelson, and Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, right, pay respects during a ceremony that was part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, at Arlington National Cemetery.
NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, and NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, right, pay respects at the grave markers of Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Roger Chaffee, from Apollo 1, during a ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022.