40 Years ago

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:36 pm

Well once again it is that time of the year where we remember 3 fallen astronait crews who gave their lives in the line of duty.

The anniversaries started at 6:31 pm est today with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 1 launch pad fire. 40 years ago tonight the 3 man crew of Apollo 204 later renamed Apollo 1 died when fire erupted through their capsule. The program would be grounded for nearly 2 years till Apollo 7 made its flight in October 1968.

21 Years ago tommorow we lost another crew when 73 seconds after the liftoffSTS-51L the failure of the oring seals in the right hand SRB resulted in complete burnthrough of the SRB outer casing followed by burnthrough of the external tank and complete structural failure of the ET. Challenger was torn apart by the aerodynamix forces acting on the vehicle. The crew perished 2 and a half minutes later when the crew cabin impacted the atlantic ocean at around 250 mph.

And 4 years ago this coming thursday we lost the crew of STS-107 when a hole in the left wing resulting from the impact of a briefcase size chunk of insulating foam hitting the wing during the launch resulted in hot gasses entering the vehicle causing Columbia to break up 16 minutes from landing.

So we remember the crews of
Apollo 1.

Virgil Ivan (Gus) Grissom NASA Group 1 - 1959. Spaceflight Log Mercury MR-4.Gemini 3.

Edward Higgins (Ed) White II NASA Group 2 - 1962 Spaceflight Log Gemini 4.

Dr Roger Bruce Chaffee NASA Group 3 - 1963

STS-51L

Francis Richard 'Dick' Scobee NASA Group 8 - 1978. Spaceflight Log STS-41-C. STS-51-L.

Michael John Smith NASA Group 9 - 1980. Spaceflight Log STS-51-L. also assigned to STS-61-I. (cancelled).

Dr Judith Arlene Resnik NASA Group 8 - 1978. Spaceflight Log STS-41-D STS-51-L also assigned to STS-12 (cancelled)

Dr Ronald Erwin McNair NASA Group 8 - 1978. Spaceflight Log STS-41-B STS-51-L

Ellison Shoji Onizuka NASA Group 8 - 1978.Spaceflight Log STS-51-C. STS-51-L. also assigned to STS-10 (cancelled). STS-41-E (cancelled).

Gregory Bruce Jarvis Payload Specialist. Spaceflight Log STS-51-L. also assigned to STS-51-AA (cancelled).

Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Payload Specialist Spaceflight Log STS-51-L.

STS-107

Rick Douglas Husband NASA Group 15 - 1995 Spaceflight Log STS-96. STS-107.

William Cameron 'Willie' McCool NASA Group 16 - 1996. Spaceflight Log STS-107.

Michael Phillip Anderson NASA Group 15 - 1995 Spaceflight Log STS-89. STS-107.

Dr Kalpana Chawla NASA Group 15 - 1995 Spaceflight Log STS-87. STS-107.

Laurel Blair Salton Clark NASA Group 16 - 1996. Spaceflight Log STS-107.

David McDowell Brown NASA Group 16 - 1996. Spaceflight Log STS-107.

Ilan Ramon Payload Specialist. Spaceflight Log STS-107

May they all rest in Peace and may we always remember them.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:38 pm

also here is the tribute video i did recently http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_M7tUpfWg

SpaceCanada · Post by **SpaceCanada** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:59 pm

I read your posts! I read every post actually. I am a Space Camp/Hab1 junkie to the core.

It is a sad week for NASA. We have to remember those who gave their lives in the name of space exploration but we also have to recognise the dreams of these individuals, the dreams of us all, and keep going.

On a much happier note, and swerving off-topic, sorry Jason, they moved up the STS-117 launch to 15 March.

Post by **Vincent** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:01 pm

And on an even happier note, I was able to get viewing tickets for STS-117 this morning!

Now I just hope it doesn't get delayed after I go book a flight (which I will wait several weeks before doing so...just in case).

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:55 pm

awww, lucky! I'm done school December of 2008 and plan to go down to the Cape before the end of the shuttle, even if I don't get launch tickets.

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:15 pm

i finally got to go to a launch once. it was supposed to go on my birthday and i just happened to be in florida on vacation. my dad and i got up in the wee morning hours and headed down to the cape and got a good spot. i knew it was going to go when the main engines ignited and saw the big cloud of smoke and heard the roar of the engines. then it stopped with T-3 seconds to go. [darn] pad abort!