While we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the birth of Star Trek, another, more somber 40th anniversary is being observed this week in the space community. Star Trek was midway through its first season and — what may seem tragically poetic — "Tomorrow is Yesterday" had just aired the night before. NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee were testing the experimental Apollo 1 spacecraft when an electrical arc in a pure oxygen atmosphere set off a fire that consumed their vehicle with them inside.

That anniversary, January 27, has begun a week-long commemoration of 17 brave souls who paid the ultimate price for the sake of humanity's future in space. Twenty-one years ago yesterday, Space Shuttle Challenger was lost upon lift-off with seven astronauts aboard including teacher Christa McAuliffe. Four years ago on Thursday, Columbia — after which the NX-02 in Enterprise was named — burned up in re-entry, sacrificing seven more citizens of Earth.

NASA's annual Day of Remembrance takes place today, and NASA.gov is currently running a special presentation paying tribute to those who "gave their lives in service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind's final frontier." (Click on "NASA Remembers" in the top banner, and in the box that opens up, click on the various links to explore the available media.)

In a statement posted at the NASA site, administrator Michael Griffin says, "Today, we honor the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts, as well as others at NASA who have given their lives in pursuit of the dream of flight. In recognition of NASA's Day of Remembrance, I and some of our astronauts will visit Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath in memory of those members of the NASA family who have fallen in the line of duty."

Griffin continues, "From the dawn of the space age, we have known that spaceflight would bring with it unique new challenges, opportunities, rewards, and risks.

"The Apollo fire, which occurred forty years ago on January 27, 1967, was a particular blow, because so few had anticipated that our first tragedy would occur during a ground test. The fire, and the loss of Challenger and Columbia, are stark reminders that we must use our utmost ingenuity to anticipate all of the risks before us, not just those that are obvious. To imagine the ways in which a complex new machine might fail is the most difficult of all engineering challenges, yet it is the one we at NASA have accepted as the price of learning the arts and sciences of flight in all its forms.

"This Day of Remembrance also reminds us that despite our losses, the American people have never wavered in their support for space exploration. They know that it brings out the best in us, our creativity, our curiosity, our courage in the face of the unknown. Space exploration reminds us of what it is to be a human being, in ways that have been, and will be again, both supremely gratifying and deeply humbling. But through it all, through both failure and success, we continue our work to know, to experience, to understand, to become a spacefaring civilization."

Let us in the Star Trek community also remember these selfless heroes who have helped pave the way for future generations of space explorers. Without the sacrifices of Grissom, Frank Scobee, Rick Husband and all the others, the Captain Archers, Kirks and Picards of centuries hence could not go boldly further into the unknown, expanding the human adventure and establishing mankind's place in the heavens.

Apollo 1
January 27, 1967
Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom
Edward Higgins White, II
Roger Bruce Chaffee

Space Shuttle Challenger, Mission STS-51-L
January 28, 1986
Francis R. Scobee
Michael J. Smith
Judith A. Resnik
Ellison S. Onizuka
Ronald E. McNair
Gregory B. Jarvis
Sharon Christa McAuliffe

Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission STS-107
February 1, 2003
Rick D. Husband
William C. McCool
Michael P. Anderson
Kalpana Chawla
David M. Brown
Laurel Blair Salton Clark
Ilan Ramon