NASA Community Honors Fallen Heroes on 2020 Day of Remembrance

The NASA community honored its fallen heroes today in the annual Day of Remembrance.  NASA officials presided over a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, while NASA centers around the country held their own observances. NASA sets aside a day each year around this time, which marks the anniversaries of three fatal missions:  Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967; Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986; and Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.

The day is not limited only to the crews who died in those missions.  NASA describes it as honoring members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery.

Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died on January 27, 1967, 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. The mission is referred to as Apollo 1, AS-204 (Apollo Saturn 204) or Apollo 204.

On January 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger was torn apart by aerodynamic forces 73 seconds after liftoff after one of its Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) failed.  Its crew of 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.  An “O-ring” in one of the two SRBs failed due to very cold weather at the launch site, allowing hot gases to escape and causing the subsequent failure of the other SRB and the External Tank creating aerodynamic forces that also destroyed the orbiter.

On February 1, 2003, the country endured its third space tragedy when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry.  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 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.

Today, NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard laid wreaths and led a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorials to the Challenger and Columbia crews are located there.  Congress authorized construction of a memorial to the Apollo 1 crew in the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act, but it has not yet been built.  Two of the Apollo 1 astronauts, Grissom and Chaffee, are buried there.  White is buried at West Point, his alma mater.