Astronauts Day
{{Short description|American holiday}}
{{confused|National Astronaut Day}}
{{Infobox holiday
| holiday_name = Astronauts Day
| type = secular
| observedby = United States
| longtype = Day of remembrance of NASA astronauts
| week_ordinal = last
| weekday = Friday
| month = January
}}
Astronauts Day is an American holiday, dedicated to NASA astronauts and their achievements. It is a "floating" holiday, observed on the last Friday of January.
Overview
This date was chosen{{cn|date=January 2017}} to commemorate a number of space-related disasters which took place around this time, including the 27 January 1967 deaths of Command Pilot Virgil Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward Higgins White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee aboard Apollo 1,{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo1.html|title=Apollo 1|first=Cheryl L.|last=Mansfield|date=16 March 2015|publisher=}} and disasters involving the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986,{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-51L.html|title=NASA - STS-51L Mission Profile|first=Lynda |last=Warnock|date=19 January 2016|publisher=}} and the Space Shuttle Columbia on 1 February 2003.{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-107.html|title=NASA - STS-107|first=Lynda|last=Warnock|publisher=|access-date=2016-12-17|archive-date=2018-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206060058/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-107.html|url-status=dead}}
Observants of this holiday are asked to light a candle in their window, reflect on the sacrifices astronauts have made, and re-dedicate themselves to a personal dream or goal of their own, a reference to a quote from Alan Shepard. While stuck in his suit for hours during a space mission, enduring technical delays, his patience gave out and he said "Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle!"{{cite web|url=http://www.americaspace.com/?p=18436|title="Light This Candle": The Hours Before Freedom 7|date=9 May 2012|publisher=}}
See also
- Cosmonautics Day (Russia and some former USSR countries)
- National Astronaut Day (USA)
- Yuri's Night
References
{{reflist}}
{{NASA space program}}
Category:Observances in the United States