NASA DAY OF REMEMBRANCE, Jan 25, 2024, KSC and elsewhere

Update January 20:  The KSC/Astronaut Memorial Foundation event will begin at 10:00 am ET and be livestremed on Kennedy’s Facebook, X, and YouTube pages.

In addition to KSC, other NASA centers will hold events as explained in NASA’s January 19 press release.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy and Associate Administrator Jim Free will hold a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery at 1:00 pm ET.

In addition to the events on January 25, Nelson, Melroy and Free will host a Town Hall meeting at NASA HQ two days earlier on January 23 to highlight the importance of safety in achieving mission success.

Original Entry: NASA’s annual Day of Remembrance to honor fallen astronauts will take place on January 25, 2024 in partnership with the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Space Mirror at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex and elsewhere.

More information about the KSC ceremony is on the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s website.

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.