Died On This Date - January 28

McAuliffe, Christa (Sharon)
b. September 2, 1948 d. January 28, 1986
Astronaut, Educator. She was a teacher, and was slated to be the first civilian in space, assigned to fly about the ill-fated space shuttle “USS Challenger”. The image of her jaunty stride and exuberant wave as she entered Challenger spacecraft shortly before the ill-fated mission ended in tragedy has become an icon of the 20th century.

McNair, Ronald Erwin 'Ron'
b. October 12, 1950 d. January 28, 1986
US Astronaut. Killed in the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

Onizuka, Ellison
b. June 24, 1946 d. January 28, 1986
US Astronaut / Died in Challenger Accident.

Resnik, Judith A.
b. April 5, 1949 d. January 28, 1986
Astronaut. Killed in the space shuttle Challenger explosion.

Yeats, William Butler
b. June 13, 1865 d. January 28, 1939
Poet, Playwright. Irish nationalist who successfully agitated to develop Irish literature and culture. Amongst his most famous poems are those relating to the 1916 Easter Rising. Admirer of Maud Gonne, but at the age of 52 married the 15-year old Georgie. Became a Senator of Irish Free State. Nobel Prize for Literature 1923. In the twenties and thirties his politics took him well to the right. Died in France.

Smith, Michael John
b. April 30, 1945 d. January 28, 1986
Astronaut. Mike Smith was the pilot of the ill-fated space shuttle Challenger. From the time he graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1967, he had an accomplished Navy career which lasted almost 20 years. He earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1968 and completed flight training in 1969. He served as an instructor in the jet training command, and then completed a two year Vietnam cruise with Attack Squadron 52.

Drake, Sir. Francis
b. 1540 d. January 28, 1596
Elizabethan seaman, born at Crowndale Farm, near Tavistock, Devon, SW England, UK. In 1567 he commanded the Judith in his kinsman John Hawkyns's ill-fated expedition to the West Indies, and returned there several times to recover the losses sustained from the Spaniards, his exploits gaining him great popularity in England.

Keeble, Woodrow Wilson
b. May 16, 1917 d. January 28, 1982
Korean War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient. He was the first Sioux Indian to earn the award, which was awarded to him posthumously, more than twenty years after his death and almost six decades after his heroic actions. On October 20, 1951 he was near Kumsong battling the Chinese. With his fellow soldiers pinned down by heavy enemy gunfire Keeble, already wounded, made his way up a hill and single-handedly took out four machine gun bunkers, killing nine enemy soldiers.

Jarvis, Gregory B.
b. August 24, 1944 d. January 28, 1986
The International Forest of Friendship is a living, growing memorial to the World History of Aviation and Aerospace. The space shuttle Challenger exploded Jan 28, 1986, all seven aboard perished. Names of those pioneers of space exploration, along with three other astronauts who also gave their lives, are immortalized in the inner circle around the Moon Tree. This tree was grown from a seed taken to the moon by the late Command Module pilot, Col. Stuart Roosa, in Apollo 14, 1971.

Smith, Harold 'Hal'
b. August 24, 1916 d. January 28, 1994
American screen, television, and voice actor of the 1940s through the 1990s. Widely recognized for his portrayal of 'Otis Campbell' on "The Andy Griffith Show" of the 1960s.

Banner, John
b. January 28, 1910 d. January 28, 1973
Actor. Fondly remembered for his role of 'Sergeant Schultz' in the classic 1960s television sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" (1965 - 1971). An Austrian actor of Jewish descent in his hometown of Vienna, he was forced to leave when Germany and Austria unified in 1938, at the age of 28, during the Anschluss (union) between the two countries. There are reports that he spent time in a German Concentration Camp, but these are unconfirmed.

Jarvis, Gregory B. 'Greg'
b. August 24, 1944 d. January 28, 1986
Payload specialist and astronaut on the Challenger.

Scobee, Francis R. 'Dick'
b. May 19, 1939 d. January 28, 1986
Space Shuttle Challenger Pilot. Francis Scobee was born in Cle Elum, Washington. Enlisting in the Air Force in 1957 as an engine mechanic, he attended college in his off-duty hours and was eventually awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1965. He was made an officer the same year and attended flight school, earning his wings as a combat aviator in 1966 during the Vietnam War. On his return stateside, he attended the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force.