NASA honoured members of the space agency's family who lost their lives during space missions, on the agency's annual Day of Remembrance. NASA observes the Day of Remembrance on the last Thursday of January every year, and this year, the day fell on January 26, a few days ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Why does NASA observe Day of Remembrance annually?
NASA's Day of Remembrance is a day when the space agency remembers its fallen heroes, including the crews of space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and Apollo 1. February 1, 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Columbia disaster.
On January 26, at 1 pm EST (11:30 pm IST), observances for the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia crews will be performed. Then, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will send an agency wide message to employees.
Every year, on NASA's Day of Remembrance, a traditional wreath-laying ceremony is performed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In a NASA video, Nelson said the space agency has a day of remembrance every January to encourage reflection throughout NASA, throughout the United States, and throughout the world. It's a day to pause, to remember, and to uplift the legacies of the NASA family members who gave their lives to advance the cause of exploration, he added.
In a NASA statement, Nelson said as the space agency continues to expand humanity's reach in this new era of exploration, NASA must always embrace the space agency's core value of safety.
NASA's Day of Remembrance pays tribute to the crew of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, and astronauts that died while they were training, including Theodore Freeman, Charles Bassett, Clifton C Williams, Michael J Adams, Elliot M See Jr., and Robert H Lawrence, Jr.
Columbia disaster
On January 16, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off into space from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying seven astronauts, namely Colonel Rick Husband, Commander William McCool, Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson, Captain David Brown, Commander Laurel Clark, Dr. Kalpana Chawla, and Israeli Colonel Ilan Ramon. The astronauts successfully conducted multiple science experiments over the course of the sixteen-day flight.
This was the 28th mission for Space Shuttle Columbia. However, 81.7 seconds after launch, insulation broke off the external fuel tank, hitting Columbia. The extent of the damage was not fully realised until Columbia broke apart while trying to re-enter Earth's atmosphere before landing on February 1, 2003, leading to the death of all the astronauts aboard the shuttle. This was the worst space-related accident since the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster which occurred on January 28, 1986.
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after the launch of the STS-51L mission, claiming the lives of seven astronauts. These were mission specialist Ellison S Onizuka, Pilot Michael J Smith, Payload Specialist Christa McAuliffe, Commander Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis, Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnik, and Mission Specialist Ronald E. McNair.
The primary goal of the mission was to launch the second Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-B), and a small satellite called the Spartan Halley spacecraft, which Challenger would have picked up two days later after the spacecraft had observed Halley's Comet during its closest approach to the Sun.
Due to delays in getting the previous shuttle mission, 61-C, to the ground, the 51-L mission was postponed for several days. On the night before the launch, a severe cold wave deposited thick ice on the launch pad in Florida.
On January 28, 1986, liftoff was delayed until 11:38 am EST. Just 73 seconds after liftoff, Space Shuttle Columbia disappeared in an explosion, at an altitude of 46,000 feet. For more than an hour after the explosion, debris rained into the Atlantic Ocean. However, searches revealed no sign of the crew.
An intensive investigation led by NASA and a commission appointed by US President Ronald Reagan fully established the cause of the disaster within a few weeks.
One of the reasons was that the severe cold reduced the resiliency of the two rubber O-rings that sealed the joint between the two lower segments of the right-hand solid rocket booster.
Under normal circumstances, the shuttle's three main engines, on being ignited, would have pressed the whole vehicle forward, and the boosters would have been ignited when the vehicle swung back to centre. However, on the day of the accident, an effect called "joint rotation" occurred, which prevented the rings from resealing. This opened a path for hot exhaust gas to escape from inside the booster.
The leak expanded as the vehicle ascended. A 2.4-metre stream of flame emerged from the hole 59 seconds after the launch. The flame grew to 12 metres, and gradually eroded one of the three struts that secured the booster's base to the large external tank carrying liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for the orbiter engines.
According to Britannica, thrust in the booster lagged slightly while the struts were being eroded. The nozzle steering systems tried to compensate for this lag. However, the strut broke, and the booster's base pivoted forward.
As a result, the booster's nose was forced through the top of the external fuel tank, causing the whole tank to collapse and explode.
Apollo 1
Veteran astronaut Gus Grissom, first American spacewalker Ed White and rookie Roger Chaffee were sitting atop the launch pad for a pre-launch test on January 27, 1967, when a fire broke out in their Apollo capsule.
After the fatal accident, an investigation was conducted. The findings of the investigation led to major design and engineering changes. These changes made the Apollo spacecraft safer for the future journeys to the Moon.