a pause, today

[jay]

But as we remember those who have fallen, we must also honor them by
acknowledging, humbly, that they cannot be the last. We have not made our
last mistake in learning the art and science of spaceflight. There are
places in Arlington Cemetery, and elsewhere, waiting for others who have yet
to pay the ultimate price for our human failings. We do not know who, or
why, or when, but it will come. We pray, today, that it will be a very long
time. Let us on this Day of Remembrance honor our lost companions by
resolving to make it so.

-Mike Griffin, NASA Administrator

(from a note to staff, today)

20 years since Challenger...

Comments

I remember....

[davetoo.livejournal.com]

I've been out of aerospace long enough that I don't remember the date unless I'm reminded, but I remember the event vividly. I was on the Space Shuttle Team. I worked in the SLC-6 Launch Control Center at Vandenberg. Some of my peers had just returned from cross-training at KSC a few days earlier, having missed the launch due to the delays.

I worked from 3:30 PM to midnight those days, so I spent almost all day before work watching the news and seeing the videos of the event over and over. For me it was more of a shock than 9/11/2001 turned out to be.