posted 01-23-2017 12:25 AM               

Landmarks, on and off Earth, honor Apollo 1 astronauts 50 years after fire

A football field used by the schools surrounding NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston will take on a new name later this week in commemoration of the Apollo astronauts who died in a fire on the launch pad 50 years ago.

The field at Challenger Columbia Stadium in League City, Texas, will be known as "Apollo Field" for a period of one year beginning Thursday (Jan. 26), during which time the Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD), working with NASA, will remember the tragedy through events and special features.

...the field's renaming is among a number of local, national and extraterrestrial memorials to the fallen crew members, who perished on Jan. 27, 1967.