I got back today from traveling to Houston for a meeting discussing safety issues for the (not yet official) final Shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
I noticed that the flags at NASA and contractor facilities were at half-mast on Thursday. It was for NASA's Day of Remembrance for the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia astronauts. As a SPACE.com article says
Friday marks the beginning of a somber time of year for NASA, commemorating the first of three spaceflight disasters that have claimed the lives of 17 astronauts over the last 40 years.
On Jan. 27, 1967, three astronauts perished in a fire that consumed their Apollo 1 spacecraft while it sat atop its launch pad as NASA worked feverishly to send Americans to the Moon.
Saturday also marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident. The orbiter was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986 when rocket booster seal failed, leading to a subsequent fireball and the deaths of all seven astronauts aboard – including Christa McAuliffe, the first school teacher to launch spaceward.
NASA will also honor the seven STS-107 shuttle astronauts lost in the 2003 Columbia accident next week. The Columbia orbiter broke apart during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003 after a successful 16-day science mission. Wing damage sustained during launch by a chunk of fuel tank insulation was later cited as the accident cause.
These anniveraries are a reminder that there is always risk in spaceflight and safety is never to be taken for granted.
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