25 Years Since...

[Merlin the Elder]

I'm sure the folks here that work for NASA are well aware of today's significance. As for me, I find it almost hard to believe that it's been 25 years since the seven-member crew of the Challenger was lost, 73 seconds into their mission.

Almost by definition, astronauts are test pilots, and with that job are inherent dangers. Still, the romance, as it were, of space flight once held us all captive. By the time of the Challenger's ill-fated flight, America had just about forgotten the romance.

Perhaps it's just where I fit in the history of all things insignificant, but I remember sitting mesmerized in front of the television for probably every launch of the Mercury Project, and most of Gemini and Apollo as well. I also remember witnessing a launch of a shuttle, not long before Challenger, and not realizing what I was witnessing because I was on the Gulf side of the Florida peninsula. Not being a Florida resident and used to such things, it really blew me away. Worst of all, I remember clearly where I was standing when I first heard of the Challenger's explosion.

Being an Air Force brat, aircraft, and the occupants thereof, have a special meaning to me. The Space Program, despite the current critics, provided America with an abundance of technology, but also of pride...once upon a time. I'm still proud of those who have been in the program, and I grieve for those that have been lost, beginning with Apollo 1 and the accident that killed one of the original seven, "Gus" Grissom, as well as Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

For today, though, I wish to honour those members of mission STS-51-L:
Michael J Smith
Dick Scobee
Ronald McNair
Ellison Onizuka
Christa McAuliffe
Gregory Jarvis
Judy Resnik

High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth.
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings,
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

-John Gillespie Magee Jr.

[Rani Zemirah]

25 years... and I will forever remember the moment I heard the news.  It made the small accident and spin out on the icy freeway that I had that morning fade completely from my mind until days afterward, and I have never been able to erase those tragic images from my mind.  The courage and dedication of those crew members, and the brave American citizen who accompanied them into the unknown, will forever inspire me to reach for the stars, no matter the dangers, and regardless of the chances of success.  Even in the end, the lesson I learned from them is to follow my dreams, come what may, and to try and give every day the very best of myself that I am able.  

They are all true American legends, and worthy of their place in our history.

[Xantrawler]

thanks for posting this. I still remember that day as well. I was working in sales at the time and the boss came back from running errands and said the Shuttle just blew up. I followed him into the other office telling him this wasn't a funny joke. Well I only got about half the words out when he turned on the radio and I heard it with my own two ears. It was one of those news stories that you had to hear your self to believe. Even then you didn't believe it.

[Welsh Wench]

I was skiing that day in Vermont. I met my husband and kids in the lounge and as we were leaving, we glanced at the TV.
My husband said, "That's a funny projection," and we left. Being from Florida we didn't pay all that much attention to the launch.

Later in a store I overhead a woman say, 'It was terrible about the crash.' I was thinking it was a plane crash.

We turned on the TV that night and learned the Challenger exploded.

When the Columbia went down I was in Italy on vacation.

NASA now checks where I am before they launch.

[Merlin the Elder]

...and while we're on the subject, today, February 1, 2011, marks the 8th anniversary of the loss of Columbia over Texas on mission STS-107.

For their service...
Rick Husband
William McCool
Michael Anderson
Ilan Ramon
Kalpana Chawla
David Brown
Laurel Clark

...thanks.

[Rowan MacD]

  A candle lit and a prayer for their souls.
  A life remembered is eternal.