January 27th Day of Remembrance
Jan 28, 2005 11: 42 EST
NASA has declared the final Thursday in January a national Day of Remembrance for the men and women of the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia missions, as well as “…all those who have given their lives in the cause of exploration and discovery.”
Apollo 1
On the morning of January 27, 1967, veteran astronaut Gus Grisson, first American spacewalker Ed White, and rookie Roger Chafee were sitting atop the launch pad for a pre-launch test when a fire broke out in the Apollo capsule, taking the lives of all three men.
The ensuing investigation into the causes of this monumental tragedy would lead to major design and engineering changes that would make future accomplishments in space possible.
Challenger
Just 73 seconds after launch on the morning of January 28, 1986, a booster engine failed and caused the shuttle Challenger to break apart, taking the lives of all seven crew members. President Reagan eulogized the crew, quoting from the poem “High Flight”, by John Gillespie Magee Jr: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God’”.
Columbia
On February 1, 2003, the seven member crew of the STS-107 mission was only 16 minutes from landing when Mission Control lost contact with Shuttle Columbia. During launch, a piece of foam fell from the external tank. It opened a hole in one of the shuttle’s wings and led to the breakup of the orbiter upon re-entry.
At Explorersweb, we would like to honor the men and women around the world and throughout history who have given their lives to the advancement of our understanding of this world. After all, that is the spirit that keeps us growing.
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