Arlington National Cemetery
The Space Shuttle "Challenger" Memorial was dedicated on May 20, 1986, in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on January 28, 1986. Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem "High Flight", which was quoted by then President Ronald Reagan when he addressed the disaster. Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two crew members, Scobee and Smith, are buried in Arlington. On February 1, 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe dedicated a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle "Columbia" broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003. Astronauts Laurel Clark, David Brown and Michael Anderson, who were killed in the "Columbia" disaster, are also buried in Arlington.
Space Shuttle program
The accidents led to national level inquiries and detailed analysis of why the accidents occurred. There was a significant pause where changes were made before the Shuttles returned to flight. The "Columbia" disaster occurred in 2003, but STS took more than a year off before returning to flight in June 2005 with the STS-114 mission. The previous break was between January 1986 (when the "Challenger" disaster occurred) and 32 months later when STS-26 was launched on September 29, 1988.