KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Three missions, 17 lives. NASA is honoring all astronauts who have lost their lives in the 63-year history of the agency as Thursday marks 35 years since the Challenger disaster.
APOLLO 1
Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died during a pre-test launch when a fire broke out in the the Apollo 1 capsule during a launchpad exercise on Jan. 27, 1967.
CHALLENGER
Seven people were killed when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart less than two minutes into its flight on Jan. 28, 1986. Five NASA astronauts were killed: commander Francis Scobee, pilot Mike Smith, mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ron McNair and Ellison Onizuka. Two payload specialist were killed: Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, a civilian who had been selected to fly via NASA’s “Teacher in Space” program.
COLUMBIA
Seven people were killed on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the earth’s atmosphere.
Commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Blair Salton Clark were killed.
