By Richard Tew/Contributing writer for The Post Newspaper
Last Thursday morning’s dreary weather didn’t stop several hundred former and current NASA employees and family of fallen astronauts from attending a remembrance ceremony for the former crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles’ Challenger and Columbia. All three space vehicles met catastrophic ends, taking the lives of their crew with them.
On January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee lost their lives during pre-flight testing when according to official findings, a spark ignited fuel on one of the rocket’s modules causing an explosion that took the lives all of three crew members. On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch. According to reports say the accident was due to a faulty O-ring on one of the two booster rockets failed. The explosion occurred 73 seconds into the flight killing Commander Francis Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist Gregory Javis and Payload Specialist Christa McCauliffe. Space Shuttle Columbia tragically disintegrated while making re-entry February 1, 2003 taking the lives of Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William McCool, Mission Specialist Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. After an investigation, NASA reports say the cause of the explosion was caused by a piece of insulating foam from an external propellent tank striking the leading edge of the left wing causing damage to heat tiles placed along the bottom of Columbia to dissipate the extreme heat the shuttle faced when re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Speakers at the remembrance ceremony were Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche, Cheryl McNair, widow of former astronaut Ron McNair and Jasmin Moghbeli, current astronaut in NASA’s astronaut corps.
There was a moment of silence followed by a fly over by a NASA T-38 trainer jet. Taps was played by Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Squadron 17 bugler Simon Perez.
After the ceremony, a procession was made around a memorial area nestled under a grove of oak trees on the JSC site where flowers were laid at markers for each of the fallen astronauts.
Photo cutline:
Taps was played last Thursday morning during NASA’s “Day of Remembrance” ceremony at the Johnson Space Center by Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Squadron 17 bugler Simon Perez. Photo by Richard Tew/The Post Newspaper.
Photo cutline: Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wysche delivered comments to a gathered crowd of current and former NASA employees along with family of fallen astronauts at the annual “Day of Remembrance” ceremony held on site at the Johnson Space Center.
