NASA DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2025, Jan 23, 2025, KSC, 10:00 am ET

Update, January 17:  NASA has issued a press release describing the events it plans this year.  Jim Free, NASA Associate Administrator who will be Acting NASA Administrator on January 23, will lead the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery at 1:00 pm ET. That ceremony typically is not open to the public or aired on NASA+, but photos usually are later released.

Original Entry (revised): NASA’s annual Day of Remembrance to honor fallen astronauts is traditionally held on the fourth  Thursday of January. That falls on January 23 in 2025, earlier than usual.  Commemorations are held at Arlington National Cemetary, several NASA centers, and in partnership with the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Space Mirror at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.  The KSC/Astronauts Memorial Foundation event will take place at 10:00 am ET.  More information is on the Foundation’s website.

Additional tributes will take place at other locations.

The Day honors astronauts who died furthering the cause of space exploration and discovery, especially the crews of Apollo 1 in 1967, the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, and the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

The first U.S. space tragedy occurred on January 27, 1967.  Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died when a fire erupted in the 100 percent oxygen atmosphere of their Apollo spacecraft during a pre-launch test at Kennedy Space Center, FL. They would have been the first crew to launch into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft and hence many refer to this as Apollo 1.

Apollo 1 crew:  Ed White, Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee.  Photo credit:  NASA

On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff.  Five NASA astronauts (Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, and Ron McNair), a payload specialist from Hughes Aircraft (Greg Jarvis) and a New Hampshire schoolteacher flying as a Teacher in Space (Christa McAuliffe) died when an “O-ring” in one of the two  Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) failed due to very cold weather at the launch site.  The failure of the O-ring allowed hot gases to escape from the SRB and cause the subsequent failure of the other SRB and the External Tank.  Aerodynamic forces destroyed the orbiter and her crew.

Space Shuttle Challenger crew: from left – front row Mike Smith,  Dick Scobee, Ron McNair; back row, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik. Photo credit:  NASA

On February 1, 2003, six NASA astronauts (Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, and Laurel Clark) and an Israeli Air Force pilot flying as a payload specialist (Ilan Ramon) died during their return from a 16-day science mission aboard space shuttle Columbia.  Superheated gases (plasma) that surround the shuttle during reentry through the Earth’s atmosphere entered a hole in the wing that had been created during liftoff by foam falling from the External Tank.  The wing deformed and aerodynamic forces tore the shuttle apart.
Space Shuttle Columbia crew:  from left –  David Brown (NASA), Rick Husband (NASA), Laurel Clark (NASA), Kalpana Chawla (NASA), Michael Anderson (NASA), William McCool (NASA), Ilan Ramon (Israeli Air Force). Photo credit: NASA.