There is a poem that was written by a Canadian pilot during World War II, called High Flight. I think it would be fitting that I dedicate this poem to the those astrounauts that lost their lives.
Apollo 1 Virgil I. Grissom - Commander Edward White - Command Module Pilot Roger B. Chaffee - Lunar Module Pilot An exhaustive investigation of the fire and extensive reworking of the CMs postponed any manned launch until NASA officials cleared the CM for manned flight. Saturn 1B schedules were suspended for nearly a year, and the launch vehicle that finally bore the designation AS-204 carried a Lunar Module (LM) as the payload, not the Apollo CM. The missions of AS-201 and AS-202 with Apollo spacecraft aboard had been unofficially known as Apollo 1 and Apollo 2 missions (AS-203 carried only the aerodynamic nose cone). In the spring of 1967, NASA's Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, Dr. George E. Mueller, announced that the mission originally scheduled for Grissom, White and Chaffee would be known as Apollo 1, and said that the first Saturn V launch, scheduled for November 1967, would be known as Apollo 4. The eventual launch of AS-204 became known as the Apollo 5 mission (no missions or flights were ever designated Apollo 2 and 3). The second launch of a Saturn V took place on schedule in the early morning of April 4, 1968. Known as AS-502, or Apollo 6, the flight was a success, though two first stage engines shut down prematurely, and the third stage engine failed to re-ignite after reaching orbit. Shuttle Challenger (STS 51-L) Franics R. Scobee - Commander Michael J .Smith - Pilot Ronald E. McNair - Mission Specialist Ellison S. Onizuka - Mission Specialist Judith A. Resnick - Mission Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis - Payload Specialist S. Christa McAuliffe - Payload Specialist (Teacher in Space) The 25th mission in the Space Shuttle program -- flown by the Challenger -- ended tragically with the loss of its seven crew members and destruction of the vehicle when it exploded shortly after launch. The launch -- the first from Pad B at KSC's Launch Complex 39 -- occurred at ll:38 a.m. EST, on January 28, 1986. The flight had been scheduled six times earlier, but was delayed because of technical problems and bad weather. The launch was originally set for 3:43 p.m. EST, Jan. 22, slipped to Jan.23, then Jan. 24, due to delays in Mission 61-C. Launch reset for Jan. 25 because of bad weather at transoceanic abort landing (TAL) site in Dakar, Senegal. To utilize Casablanca (not equipped for night landings) as alternate TAL site, T-zero moved to morning liftoff time. Launch postponed a day when launch processing unable to meet new morning liftoff time. Prediction of unacceptable weather at KSC led to launch rescheduled for 9:37 a.m. EST, Jan. 27. Launch delayed 24 hours again when ground servicing equipment hatch-closing fixture could not be removed from orbiter hatch. Fixture sawed off and attaching bolt drilled out before closeout completed. During delay, cross winds exceeded return-to-launch-site limits at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. Launch Jan. 28 delayed two hours when hardware interface module in launch processing system, which monitors fire detection system, failed during liquid hydrogen tanking procedures. An explosion 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle. Shuttle flights halted while extensive investigation into accident and assessment of Shuttle program conducted. It was determined, among other things, that a malfunctioning "O" ring, caused by the extreme cold of the day, caused fuel to leak out of the main tank and the resulting explosion. Alan B. Shepard, Jr.  
Alan Shepard Jr., America's first man in space and the fifth to walk on the moon, died at age 74 on July 21, 1998. After his historic space flight in 1961, amid a period of Cold War rivalries and uncertainty, Shepard reinvigorated the American spirit with his courage, tenacity and unflappable, can-do attitude. "Alan Shepard will be remembered, always, for his accomplishments of the past: being one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, for being the first American to fly in space and for being one of only 12 Americans ever to step on the moon," said NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin. "He should also be remembered as someone who, even in his final days, never lost sight of the future." Shepard was born on Nov. 18, 1923, in East Derry, New Hampshire, where he studied in a one-room schoolhouse. There, he completed six grades in five years. On weekends, he rode his bicycle 10 miles to a local airport, where he cleaned hangars and fanned a passion for flying sparked by Charles Lindbergh's 1927 landmark flight across the Atlantic. Following World War II, Shepard began training as an aviator and took additional lessons at a civilian flying school in his spare time. He later became one of the Navy's top test pilots and took part in high-altitude flying tests. When he was selected to be one of America's first seven Mercury astronauts he was regarded "as a top-notch Navy aviator, tough, quick-witted, and a leader," wrote Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff. Although his flight on May 5, 1961, was brief, it was a major accomplishment during an era when doubts abounded. On April 12, less than a month before Shepherd's scheduled liftoff, the Soviet Union launched a spacecraft called Vostok I that carried 27-year-old cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on one lap around Earth. The feat not only made Gagarin the first man in space and the first to orbit the planet, but also gave the Soviets bragging rights in the Cold War's space race. Delays pushed Shepard's launch back three days, and once he'd been strapped into the tight little Freedom 7 cap-sule perched atop a Redstone rocket, further complications delayed the launch another four hours. Shepard finally was sent booming off into the Florida morning sky at 9:34 a.m. After his 15-minute, 302-mile flight, Freedom 7 decelerated from 5,180 miles an hour to 500 miles an hour in about 30 seconds, and Shepard was squeezed by a tremendous pressure about 10 times the force of Earth's gravity. Shepard splashed down 40 miles from Bermuda, and the next day, he was in Washington, D.C., where President John F. Kennedy awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal. An ear problem later grounded Shepard and he was put in charge of the astronauts' office for the next 10 years. But he refused to give up on getting back into space, and when surgery corrected his ear problem, he was offered command of the Apollo 14 moon mission that was launched on Jan. 31, 1971. Shepard and Ed Mitchell spent 33 1/2 hours on the moon, much of which was spent towing, pushing and even carrying a cumbersome cart bearing tools and compartments for geological samples. When the work was finished, Shepard pulled out two golf balls and unfolded a collapsible golf club. Despite thick gloves and a stiff suit that forced him to swing the club with one hand only, he became the first person ever to hit golf balls on the moon. He was the fifth man to walk on the moon and the oldest at the age of 47. Shepard retired from NASA in 1974 and started Seven Fourteen Enterprises (for Freedom 7 and Apollo 14), which served as an umbrella company for several enterprises. He also served for many years as the chairman of the Mercury 7 Foundation now the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. "Alan Shepard lived to explore the heavens," Goldin said. "On this his final journey, we wish him Godspeed." |
