NASA lost three astronaut crews during the last week of January and first part of February. The first of these--Apollo 1 in which astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died—took place 45 years ago on January 27, 1967. The Space Shuttle Challenger accident took place during launch on January 28, 1986, and the shuttle Columbia was lost during reentry on February 1, 2003. This presentation will discuss each of these accidents briefly and suggest similarities and differences of each separate in time and place.

The Ask An Expert lecture series at the National Mall building is presented every Wednesday at noon. A Museum staff member talks to the public about the history, collection, or personalities related to a specific artifact or exhibition in the Museum.