3354 McNair
Encyclopedia
3354 McNair is a main belt asteroid
with an orbital period
of 1294.8501472 days (3.55 years).
The asteroid was discovered on February 8, 1984.
It is named in memory of Ronald McNair
, one of the astronaut
s who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster
. The asteroids 3350 Scobee
, 3351 Smith
, 3352 McAuliffe
, 3353 Jarvis
, 3355 Onizuka
and 3356 Resnik
commemorate the other crew members.
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
with an orbital period
Orbital period
The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...
of 1294.8501472 days (3.55 years).
The asteroid was discovered on February 8, 1984.
It is named in memory of Ronald McNair
Ronald McNair
Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D. was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.-Background:...
, one of the astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster
STS-51-L
STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time an ordinary civilian, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, had flown aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Challenger, which lifted off from the Launch Complex 39-B on 28 January...
. The asteroids 3350 Scobee
3350 Scobee
3350 Scobee is a main-belt asteroid discovered on August 8, 1980 by Edward L. G. Bowell at the Anderson Mesa station of the Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff. It is named after the late Dick Scobee, commander of the ill-fated Space Shuttle Challenger destroyed during launch of the STS-51-L mission...
, 3351 Smith
3351 Smith
33151 Smith is a Main-belt asteroid discovered on September 7, 1980 by Edward Bowell from the Lowell Observatory in Anderson Mesa, at southwest from Flagstaff ....
, 3352 McAuliffe
3352 McAuliffe
3352 McAuliffe is an Amor and Mars-crosser asteroid which was discovered by Norman G. Thomas on February 6, 1981. It is named in memory of Christa McAuliffe, the civilian astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster...
, 3353 Jarvis
3353 Jarvis
3353 Jarvis is an inner main-belt asteroid discovered on December 20, 1981 by Edward L. G. Bowell at Flagstaff . It is named in memory of Gregory Jarvis, one of the astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster...
, 3355 Onizuka
3355 Onizuka
3355 Onizuka is a main-belt asteroid discovered on February 8, 1984 by E. Bowell at Flagstaff . It is named in memory of Ellison Onizuka, one of the astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. The asteroids 3350 Scobee, 3351 Smith, 3352 McAuliffe, 3353 Jarvis, 3354 McNair...
and 3356 Resnik
3356 Resnik
3356 Resnik is a main-belt asteroid discovered on March 6, 1984 by E. Bowell at Flagstaff . It is named in memory of Judith Resnik, one of the astronauts who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster. The asteroids 3350 Scobee, 3351 Smith, 3352 McAuliffe, 3353 Jarvis, 3354 McNair and 3355...
commemorate the other crew members.