KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, a polished black granite memorial stands constantly lit to honor the two dozen people who died in accidents in service to NASA.
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The Space Mirror Memorial is engraved with the names of the crews of three space missions along with astronaut candidates who died in accidents.
On Jan. 27, 1967, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were taking part in a launch rehearsal test ahead of the Apollo 1 mission launch when there was a cabin fire that killed the three men and destroyed the command module.
The service also honors the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L mission, which exploded on launch on Jan. 28, 1986, killing the seven-member crew, and the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107, which broke upon its return to Earth on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.
The Space Mirror Memorial is a reminder that space exploration is sometimes a dangerous business.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also has memorials to the crews of the three astronaut missions. Forever Remembered is a memorial exhibit for the crews of space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, while Ad Astra Per Aspera is a memorial exhibit for the Apollo 1 crew. All of the memorials have personal items and recovered hardware from the vehicles.
Learn about all of the fallen astronauts and astronaut candidates in the timeline below.