NASA Day of Remembrance ~ January 23, 2025

Each year on the 4th Thursday in January, NASA remembers the crew who perished in the Apollo 1 fire (1967), and the space shuttle crews who died, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003.

This is the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from one of our earlier visits.

The names of the Apollo 1 astronauts.

Grissom and Chaffee are buried in Arlington National Cemetery (White is at Westpoint) and we paid our respects at their graves last year.

More on Roger B. Chaffee here.

More on Gus Grissom here. 

We also found the memorials/graves of the shuttle crews in Arlington.

The Challenger

Their names on the Kennedy Space Center Space Mirror Memorial:

The Columbia

Their names on the Space Mirror Memorial:

The Space Mirror is part of the larger Astronauts Memorial where these can be found.

We found a small memorial to these astronauts, who died so tragically, at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

More on Armstrong here.

Rest in peace and ad astra per aspera 💔

  

Roger B. Chaffee ~ February 15, 1935 - January 27, 1967

 Roger B. Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was an American naval officer, aviator, aeronautical engineer, and astronaut. A statue was installed in his honor in 2018 on the corner of Fulton St E and Sheldon Ave NE, downtown Grand Rapids.

Chaffee attended Central High School in Grand Rapids and became an Eagle Scout. There's a historical marker in front of Trinity United Methodist Church, 1100 Lake Drive SE, Grand Rapids.

After Chaffee's death, the Grand Rapids Public Museum renamed its planetarium after him.

The museum maintains a small exhibit with Chaffee memorabilia.

In 1963, Chaffee was selected as a NASA astronaut as part of the Third Group.

Because they perished together, Roger Chaffee will always be intertwined with Gus Grissom and Ed White. Here are some photos from the Grissom Air Force Base Museum in Peru, Indiana.

Grissom has a Memorial Museum in Mitchell, Indiana.

There's also a small space museum in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

In Frankenmuth, Michigan, you can find the Michigan Heroes Museum.

The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has a plaque for Chaffee.

In 2017, we visited the Kennedy Space Center where 50 years after the Apollo 1 fire, the center put the hatch doors on display. Chaffee, Grissom, and White were sitting in the capsule on the launch pad for pre-launch testing. A fire broke out and all three were asphyxiated before they could get out of the capsule.

The Kennedy Space Center has a memorial to those who lost their lives in service to flight.

The Armstrong Air and Space Muesum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, has a small memorial to the fallen astronauts.

In 2024, we visited Arlington National Cemetery and walked up a hill to find the astronaut's grave. We were honored to pay our respects. RIP Roger B. Chaffee. 

Ad astra per aspera

Gus Grissom Blogpost

NASA Day of Remembrance