HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - NASA employees gathered at Marshall Space Flight Center on a cold February Friday set aside to remember the astronauts who died on three other cold winter mornings in the nation's space history.
The official Day of Remembrance, marked this year at all of NASA's centers on the 10th anniversary of the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, also comes four days after the anniversary of the Challenger disaster in 1986 and five days after the anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. In all, 17 astronauts died in the three accidents.
At Marshall Friday, Army Maj. John R. Sutton Jr. opened the program with a prayer "for those who gave their lives in service to their nation, those who dared to risk it all."
"To the world, they were heroes ...," said Marshall Director Patrick Scheuermann. "They were our colleagues and friends, and we took their loss personally."
"What would they tell us today?" asked Dr. Jan Davis, a Huntsville native and former astronaut who helped lead the return to flight preparations after Columbia. "They would tell us to treasure our friends, our family, our pets and not let a day go by without telling them."
Teresa Vanhooser, Marshall deputy director, then read the names of each astronaut as former shuttle propulsion manager and current safety officer Steve Cash lit a candle for each. As Vanhooser read, a screen showed photographs. Watch a brief video of that at left.
Bobby Watkins, director of the center's Office of Strategic Analysis and Communication, closed the remembrance by referring to NASA's management evolution following each accident. The agency has searched for and implemented ways to get doubts and concerns about mission risks from line engineers up to top management. "We honor them every time we ask the tough questions and speak up," Watkins said.
For more about the remembrance events and statements by President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., click here to go to NASA's website.
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