The Columbia shuttle disaster of 1 February, 2003, when seven NASA astronauts died 200,000 feet from home as their spacecraft disintegrated on re-entering the Earth.
Also remembered are the seven crew of the Challenger space shuttle who died seconds after launch on January 28, 1986, when their spacecraft exploded making them the first Americans to die in spaceflight.
As of today, 14 astronauts and four cosmonauts have died in spaceflight. This is apart from the Apollo 1 launch pad fire which killed its crew of three in pre-flight training in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 27, 1967.
We salute all astronauts who take real risks for the advancement of knowledge.
