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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Hundreds gather underneath the space shuttle Atlantis attraction at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Thursday, as NASA paid tribute to the 17 astronauts who were killed in three separate tragedies over the years.
What You Need To Know
- Family members came to honor their loved ones
- A ceremony was held where their memories and service to our country in America’s pursuit of space exploration were honored
- Get more space coverage here ▶
- 🔻Scroll down to see the photo gallery🔻
A ceremony was held where their memories and service to our country in America’s pursuit of space exploration were honored.
Reflecting on who was lost, and why most believe the country should continue reaching for the stars.
Twenty-five astronauts and test pilots have died since the U.S. space program began in 1958.
Three tragic accidents happened over the decades.
The Apollo 1 launch pad fire killed three astronauts, Roger Chaffee, Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom and Edward White II on Jan. 27, 1967, at then Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It has since been renamed the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger were killed when the orbiter broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 28, 1986.
Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnick and teacher Christa McAuliffe perished.
On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia accident claimed the lives of the seven-member crew: Cmdr. Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, David Brown and payload specialist Ilan Ramon.
The orbiter was destroyed over Texas on its way home.
Alison Smith Balch is the daughter of space shuttle Challenger crew member Michael Smith.
Forty years later, Smith Balch, her family and others, were here to honor their sacrifice so many years ago.
“It’s great that our family members are remembered. The way they died was unique because so many people truly are part of the story that was that day,” she told Spectrum News.
“Daily, daily, it doesn’t go away, he doesn’t go away, he’s still in my heart always, has always been, many, many years,” says Jane Smith Walcott, Smith’s widow.
Family laid a wreath at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Space Mirror Memorial, which is emblazoned with the names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Guests placed flowers in honor of the heroes who died to help further America’s exploration of space.
A somber day as the U.S. presses on to return to the moon once again and, eventually, to Mars.
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Greg Pallone
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