The Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial is seen during a wreath-laying ceremony that was part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance on Jan. 22 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.
Each January, NASA pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 (Jan. 27, 1967) and space shuttles Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986) and Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003).
A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test killed the three-man crew of Apollo 1. Challenger, with a crew of seven, exploded shortly after liftoff. Columbia, also with a crew of seven, broke apart during re-entry.
NASA, in partnership with the Astronauts Memorial Foundation and Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, hosted a ceremony in the Space Shuttle Atlantis building and then moved to the Space Mirror Memorial for a wreath-laying commemoration. Day of Remembrance was also observed at Space Center Houston and other locations.
The Challenger crew included Ellison Onizuka, who became the first Asian American and first person from Hawaii to reach space in 1985 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Among other memorials, Weller Street in Little Tokyo was renamed Onizuka Street and a monument featuring a scale replica of Challenger was dedicated in his memory.