Video: NASA Pays Respect to Astronauts Who Lost Their Lives at the 2026 Day of Remembrance

Today is NASA's annual Day of Remembrance and as part of the memorial event, a ceremony was held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

What's Happening:

• Each January, NASA honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. The day is meant to celebrate their lives, their bravery, and contributions to human spaceflight.

• This includes the crews of Apollo 1 and the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. It's a particularly notable year in terms of remembering and paying tribute to those who were part of the Challenger crew, who lost their lives 40 years ago this month.
• The Kennedy Center event included musical guests, a bell ringing commemoration, a moment of silence, and wreath-laying.

• Kelvin Manning, deputy director at NASA Kennedy, and Bob Cabana, former NASA associate administrator and Kennedy center director, spoke at the event, which you can watch via Laughing Place's video below.

• Besides in Florida, NASA held events across the country in multiple locations for the 2026 Day of Remembrance, including at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Stennis Space Flight Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.