NASA's Day of Remembrance: Remembering the lives lost
ORLANDO, Fla. - Every January, NASA holds a Day of Remembrance to pay respect to the lives lost while working to further the understanding of space. This includes the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.
"On NASA’s Day of Remembrance, we pause to reflect on the bravery, dedication, and selflessness of the extraordinary individuals who pushed the boundaries of exploration and discovery," said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. "Their legacies remind us of the profound responsibility we have to carry their dreams forward while ensuring safety remains our guiding principle."
The Kennedy Space Center and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation held a ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy’s Visitor Complex. The event included remarks from Tal Ramon, son of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was a crew member of space shuttle Columbia.
Kelvin Manning, deputy director at NASA Kennedy, also provided remarks during the ceremony.
Other Day of Remembrance ceremonies were hosted across the U.S.:
- Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia
- Johnson Space Center in Houston
- Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley
- Glenn Research Center in Cleveland
- Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia
- Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
- Stennis Space Flight Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
Remembering Apollo 1:
Apollo 1 was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, hoping to land the first man on the moon. It was scheduled to launch Feb. 21, 1967.

The crew:
- The commander - Virgil "Gus" Grissom
- The senior pilot - Edward White
- The pilot - Roger Chaffee
What went wrong?
On Jan. 27, 1967 while the three astronauts were sitting atop the launch pad for a prelaunch test a fire broke out in their Apollo capsule. The flames spread quickly due to the capsule being filled with 100% oxygen. All three men died from asphyxiation.
Remembering Challenger:
Meant to be the tenth mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger, The Challenger Mission's purpose was to promote scientific knowledge and initiate the NASA Teacher in Space project.

The crew:
- The commander - Francis R. (Dick) Scobee
- The pilot - Michael J. Smith
- Mission specialist - Judith A. Resnik
- Mission specialist - Ronald E. McNair
- Mission specialist - Ellison S. Onizuka
- Payload specialist - Gregory B. Jarvis
- Teacher in Space - Sharon Christa McAuliffe
What went wrong?
On January 28, 1986, the Challenger exploded due to a leak in one of the Solid Rocket Boosters. The leak then ignited the main liquid fuel tank. The explosion occurred only 73 seconds after liftoff. No crew members survived.
Remembering Columbia:
The Columbia mission was meant to conduct scientific research in orbit. It was supposed to be a key component of NASA's space exploration endeavors.

The crew:
- The commander - Rick D. Husband
- The pilot - William C. McCool
- Payload Commander - Michael P. Anderson
- Mission Specialist - David Brown
- Mission Specialist - Kalpana Chawla
- Mission Specialist - Laurel Blair Salton Clark
- Payload Specialist - Ilan Ramon
What went wrong?
On February 1, 2003, only 16 minutes from landing 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.
The Source: The information in this article comes from NASA's website.