Remembering the Sacrifices of the Bold

[Takara_Soong 4]

From st.com:

Remembering the Sacrifices of the Bold: Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia

NASA has set aside the last Thursday of January - today - as an official Day of Remembrance at the space agency. The next week contains the anniversaries of all three great tragedies of the American space program: Apollo 1, Space Shuttle Challenger and Space Shuttle Columbia (Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster).

 

In a statement on NASA's website, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin says, "Today we pause to remember the loss of all of our employees, including our Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts, and to honor their legacy. Nearly 50 years into the space age, spaceflight remains the pinnacle of human challenge, an endeavor just barely possible with today's technology. We at NASA are privileged to be in the business of learning how to do it, to extend the frontier of the possible, and, ultimately, to make space travel routine. It is an enormously difficult enterprise. The losses we commemorate today are a strong and poignant reminder of the sternness of the challenge."

 

The site also contains a video tribute by the two current occupants of the International Space Shuttle, American Bill McArthur and Russian Valery Tokarev (who also notes the loss of the Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 cosmonauts).

 

In the Star Trek community, we also honor the real-life heroes who have helped pave the way for future generations of space explorers. Without the sacrifices of Gus Grissom, Frank Scobee, Rick Husband, Christa McAuliffe and all the others, the Captain Archers, Kirks and Picards of centuries hence could not go boldly further into the unknown, expanding the human adventure and establishing mankind's place in the heavens.

 

Apollo 1 - January 27, 1967

Edward Higgins White, II, Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Roger Bruce Chaffee

 

Space Shuttle Challenger, Mission STS-51-L -January 28, 1986

Front: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair

Back: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik

 

Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission STS-107 - February 1, 2003

Left to right: David Brown; Cmdr. Rick Husband; Laurel Clark; Kalpana Chawla; Michael Anderson; William McCool; Ilan Ramon

Edited January 27, 2006 by Takara_Soong

[Capt_Picard 0]

They went where many only dream to go and gave their lives trying to reach that dream. The bad part about this is that if history is any for-tellment of the future many more might loss their lives while getting to the stars.

[Gary Phaserman 0]

Spacetravel is a dangerous venture, and as we press further, we will have further casualties, but the crews of Apollo 1, and the Starships Challenger and Columbia died in the name of advancing the knowledge of Humanity, and we remember them for thier sacrifices, for having the courage do go where few have gone before. They truely were ventuing into the unknown, and that friends, is always a dangerous thing to do.

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

Truly they are heroes.