Today marks the ten year anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. On February 1, 2003, the Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crew members on board.
According to Space.com, the Columbia shuttle disaster prompted NASA to retire the space shuttle fleet.
The astronauts killed in the accident were shuttle commander Rick Husband; pilot Willie McCool; and mission specialists Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon. Space.com has posted a video of the astronauts talking about their hopes for the mission. You'll find that video at the top of this post.
NASA observed its Day of Remembrance today, paying tribute to the Columbia crew, as well as the crews of Apollo 1 and Space Shuttle Challenger. A special ceremony was held today at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Cape Canaveral to remember the 17 astronauts killed in space disasters.
