NASA honors departed astronauts

The Apollo One disaster and three U.S. astronauts who were killed in the flash fire that swept through their cone-shaped capsule during a practice countdown at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 34 were remembered in a memorial service at the Kennedy Space Center.

The astronauts--Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee who died of inhaling toxic gases, paved the way for later astronauts to be able to travel to the moon. 40 years have passed since the disaster occurred and NASA today took a break in its space proceedings to remember the tragedy and the lost souls.

The incident allowed the agency to make imperative changes in design and safety that were critical to later successes.

"I can assure you that if we had not had that fire and rebuilt the command module we could not have done the Apollo program successfully," said Young, who flew six missions during the Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs. "So we owe a lot to Gus and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible."

More than a 100 people collected in front of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to memorialize the 40th anniversary of the first catastrophe to happen to the nation's space program.

It would be a somber week for NASA as Sunday is the 21st anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident and Thursday would be the fourth anniversary of the loss of Columbia and its crew.

A wreath was laid by Chaffee’s widow, Martha, and White’s son, Edward III, along with NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier at the base of the Space Mirror Memorial, a tall granite-finished wall which has the names of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts and seven other astronauts killed in accidents, engraved on it.

"We recognize the huge personal sacrifice that each of you have made for the success of our space program," Stephen Feldman, president of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, told the family members.