NASA Ames to Honor Fallen Astronauts, Unveils New Exhibit

Every year during this week, it’s a sad and tough time at NASA.

More than 40 years ago, on Jan. 27, 1967, the crew of Apollo 1 perished in a terrible fire.

On Jan. 28, 1986 the crew of the space shuttle Challenger lost their lives 73 seconds into their mission.

And this Friday, Feb. 1, will mark the 10th anniversary of the loss of the Space shuttle Columbia crew minutes before landing. So on Friday, to commemorate all the fallen astronauts NASA will observe a Day of Remembrance and a ceremony will take place at the Ames Exploration Center on Moffett Field.

NASA Ames will also unveil an exhibit to pay tribute to NASA Astronaut and STS-107 space shuttle Columbia Mission Specialist, Kalpana Chawla who spent a lot of time at Ames during her tenure as an astronaut candidate.

The Columbia memorabilia exhibit features Chawla's personal belongings;
items and awards associated with her career at NASA, and will be open to
the public through March 25, 2013.

As part of the annual Day of Remembrance, at a morning ceremony Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden will make some remarks, which will followed by a presentation about Chawla by former Ames colleagues, a video featuring Columbia, and a moment of silence.

The program featuring the video, exhibit, and presentations about Chawla
will repeat at 4 p.m. and will be open to the public at no cost. The Exploration
Center closes at 6 p.m.

Across the country, flags at NASA Headquarters in Washington and the NASA field centers will be flown at half-mast in memory of the colleagues lost in the cause of exploration.

Do you remember where you were when the Challenger and/or Columbia exploded? Tell us in comments?

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