I want to pause today with NASA to honor our astronauts who lost their lives furthering the cause of space exploration and discovery.  Today, Kennedy Director Bob Cabana will lay a wreath at the Space Mirror Memorial in honor of these brave people… gone too soon.  Let us never forget.

On January 27, 1967, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee were working in the Apollo 1 space capsule atop the launch pad when a fire broke out inside the capsule.  Neither the astronauts nor the ground crew were able to open the door to the capsule.  Ground crew monitoring communications were forced to listen to these brave men as they tried to escape.

On January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after launch, a booster engine failed on the Space Shuttle Challenger.  As the world watched in horror, we lost seven very special people.  We will never forget Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ellison Onuzuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.

On February 1, 2003, with only 16 minutes until landing, Mission Control lost contact with the Space Shuttle Columbia.  After a successful mission, Columbia broke up on re-entry, and we lost Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, and Laural Clark.

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 nor 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.

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Requiescant in pace.

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Space Shuttle image by Irish Barren on Photobucket