Feb 04, 2017 07:42 AM EST By Eleanor Bright, UniversityHerald Reporter

NASA held the "NASA Day of Remembrance" in the different space centers in the country on the last week of January each year. On January 26, guests, NASA officials and families of those who perished during missions gathered at the Kennedy Space Center. They commemorated the crew of Apollo 1, Challenger, and STS-107 or Columbia.

Through the "NASA Day of Remembrance", the brave people who gave their lives to the cause of exploration will be honored. The series of events at the different space centers started with the ceremonies at the Kennedy Space Center on January 26. Sheryl Chaffee, daughter o Apollo 1 crew Roger Chaffee, paid tribute to her father and the crew. She worked at the Kennedy Space Center until her retirement, according to Space Policy Online.

Apollo 1 exploded in January 27, 1967 after a fire started inside the spaceship. The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight. In February 1, 2003, Columbia or STS-107 exploded as it reenters Earth after 16 says spent in space. All these men and women died for the cause of space exploration.

The crew of the STS-107 waited for three years before they were finally scheduled to fly. The crew stayed in space for 16 days. They conducted experiments that might have impact on life on Earth. During its return journey to earth, it exploded. It was later discovered that a hole on its wing caused the explosion, according to Space Fight insider.

One important legacy of STS-107 accident was that NASA made changes in the procedures and in the equipment. One of the reasons for the accidents that was pointed out was NASA's assumption of goodness. In the case of Apollo 1, NASA failed to make an essential test. With the Challenger, NASA assumed that nothing would go wrong with the O-ring. With STS-107, NASA should have done something to fix the hole on the wing, according to IEEE Spectrum.

With the new policies implemented and changes made, space exploration has become safer than in the last decades. The NASA Day of Remembrance will always be a reminder of how Space exploration  benefits mankind 

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