Author Topic: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.  (Read 23356 times)

Offline wkann

New addition to the Atlantis Exhibit at the KSCVC honors Challenger and Columbia crews with wreckage from the two lost orbiters.

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/forever-remembered-shares-enduring-lessons-of-challenger-columbia
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Opening of 'Forever Remembered' Memorial - Part 1

Published on Jun 27, 2015
Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden officially opened the “Forever Remembered” public exhibit June 27, 2015, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
NASA and astronaut families collaborated on the memorial designed to honor the crews lost on missions STS-51L and STS-107, pay tribute to shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and emphasize the importance of learning from the past. Challenger and Columbia astronaut family members attended the opening ceremony.
Encompassing nearly 2,000 square feet, the memorial contains the largest collection of personal items of both flight crews. It also includes recovered hardware from both Challenger and Columbia, never before displayed for the public.

« Last Edit: 06/28/2015 12:29 am by catdlr »
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'Forever Remembered'  - Part 2 - Memorial at Kennedy Space Center

Published on Jun 27, 2015
NASA and the astronauts’ families have collaborated to create a new, permanent memorial designed to honor the crews of Challenger's STS-51L and Columbia's STS-107 missions, pay tribute to the spacecraft and emphasize the importance of learning from the past. “Forever Remembered” opened June 27, 2015, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, where it tells the story of NASA's 30-year Space Shuttle Program throughout the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.

« Last Edit: 06/28/2015 12:32 am by catdlr »
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[This video was emotional for me to view] - Tony


'Forever Remembered' - Part 3 - Challenger and Columbia

Published on Jun 27, 2015
The 'Forever Remembered' memorial includes recovered hardware from both Challenger and Columbia.

« Last Edit: 06/28/2015 02:44 am by catdlr »
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'Forever Remembered' - Part 4 - Families Discuss Memorial

Published on Jun 27, 2015
The families of the crews of Challenger's STS-51L and Columbia's STS-107 missions discuss the meaning of the 'Forever Remembered' memorial. The speakers are, in order of appearance, Evelyn Husband Thompson, wife of Columbia Commander Rick Husband; Lynne Salton, sister of Columbia astronaut Laurel Clark; June Scobee Rodgers, wife of Challenger Commander Dick Scobee; and Cheryl McNair, wife of Challenger astronaut Ron McNair.

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Offline jacqmans

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June 27, 2015
RELEASE 20-15

‘Forever Remembered’ Exhibit Honoring Challenger and Columbia Opens at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

 
NASA and the families of the crews of space shuttle missions STS-51L and STS-107 have collaborated to create a new, permanent memorial designed to honor the astronauts, pay tribute to orbiters Challenger and Columbia, and emphasize the importance of learning from the past. “Forever Remembered” opened Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, where it completes NASA’s 30-year Space Shuttle Program story told throughout the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.

Encompassing nearly 2,000 square feet, the memorial contains the largest collection of personal items of both flight crews. It also includes recovered hardware from both Challenger and Columbia, never before on display for viewing by the public.

Family members were present at a small ceremony as the memorial was formally opened by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, both veteran shuttle astronauts.

“The crews of Challenger and Columbia are forever a part of a story that is ongoing,” Bolden said. “It is the story of humankind’s evolving journey into space, the unknown, and the outer-reaches of knowledge, discovery and possibility. It is a story of hope.”

The Space Shuttle Program story is full of spectacular successes. From its maiden voyage in 1981 to its final touchdown in 2011, the capable, reusable delta-winged vehicle captivated a generation. Teams of astronauts pulled off seemingly impossible feats in Earth orbit while a cast of thousands supported them from the ground.

But the shuttle story also includes the losses of 14 courageous astronauts and the nation's first two shuttles, Columbia and Challenger. The tragedies galvanized the agency to learn from these painful events, not only to safely return the shuttle fleet to flight, but to help assure the safety of future explorers.

Temperatures at Kennedy Space Center were just a few degrees above freezing on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, as Challenger lifted off on its 10th mission, STS-51L. One minute and 13 seconds into the flight, a booster failure caused an explosion that destroyed the vehicle, resulting in the loss of the crew of seven astronauts: Commander Francis Scobee, Pilot Michael Smith, Mission Specialists Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka and Ronald McNair, and Payload Specialists Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire schoolteacher.

Seventeen years later, on Jan. 16, 2003, NASA’s flagship orbiter Columbia thundered into orbit on STS-107, a 16-day science mission. On board were Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut. On Feb. 1, 2003, the orbiter broke apart in the skies above east Texas as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on the way to a planned landing at Kennedy. Seven more lives were lost.

“I believe that it’s important to share this story with everyone, and not just push it aside, or try to hide it,” Cabana said. “These crews and these vehicles are part of who we are as an agency, and a nation. They tell the story of our never ending quest to explore, and our undying spirit to never give up.”

"Forever Remembered” is designed to be an emotional experience, according to NASA’s Mike Ciannilli, who has been NASA’s lead on the memorial project since it began about four years ago. At the time, Ciannilli was a NASA Test Director and Landing Recovery Director.

"Emotion is timeless," Ciannilli explained. "It's important that we don't lock this experience into a certain time, a certain place."

Visitors enter the memorial through a doorway flanked by the STS-51L and STS-107 mission patches. The orbiter and crew are remembered through individual collections lining the walls: Challenger on the left, Columbia on the right. The items were carefully chosen to share each astronaut’s passions, talents and achievements, allowing their personalities to shine through.

Items include Husband’s cowboy boots and Bible, a small aircraft Smith hand-carved for his wife, Anderson’s vintage Star Trek lunch box, and a research paper authored by Judy Resnik, displayed alongside sheet music for violin and piano. There are flight jackets, family photographs and numerous other artifacts offering a glimpse into the people behind the names on the mission patches. Many items were loaned by the families; others belong to NASA.

“The families have been unbelievably gracious, inspiring, warm and giving,” Ciannilli said. “There were times they provided comfort to me as I worked on this, and still do.”

At the end of the first hall, the warmth of the astronauts’ collections gives way to a small gallery where guests will see firsthand the toll these events took on the shuttle hardware. A section of Challenger’s fuselage displaying the American flag stands at left; on the right, the flight deck windows of Columbia are placed at eye level. 

“When I look into those windows, I see John Young and Bob Crippen preparing to launch on the boldest test flight in history, the first flight of America’s space shuttle, Columbia,” Cabana said.

“I see a much younger Bob Cabana launching to space on his first command, and I see Rick and Willie and the rest of the 107 crew smiling and experiencing the wonders of space on the final flight of Columbia.”

While great care has been taken to preserve the pieces, they’re real, bearing the scars of the trauma each shuttle endured.

“Forever Remembered” concludes with a focus on the recovery and return-to-flight efforts, including the emotional toll these events had on the nation, the challenges involved in recovery, and the triumph of return to flight. A looping video shares heartfelt letters written by children as they shared their condolences and messages of hope.                                                                                                                                                         

After each loss, investigators spent months looking at recovered hardware, poring over data and conducting analysis to determine what had gone wrong. A second video reveals rarely seen photos and footage of this painstaking process.

The space shuttle team pulled together to fix the problems and return the program to flight each time. Any less effort would not have honored the fallen astronauts or their missions. Shuttle Atlantis, on display nearby, flew the final mission of the Space Shuttle Program, STS-135.

“The artifacts here on display are not easy to look at. Many of them are on display for the very first time,” Bolden said. “It is our hope that by making them available for the public to view, we will help remind the world, that every launch, every discovery, every measure of progress, is possible only because of the sacrifice of those we have lost.”

For information about Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, visit:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com
Jacques :-)

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Wow.

I'd have a hard time keeping a straight face if I was there. Hell, I'm having a hard time right now.
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Offline Naito

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Wow.

I'd have a hard time keeping a straight face if I was there. Hell, I'm having a hard time right now.

Likewise. Definitely have to make a return visit to pay my respects.
Carl C.

Offline collectSPACE

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Additional background and photographs:

NASA exhibits space shuttles Challenger, Columbia debris for first time
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-062715a-challenger-columbia-nasa-exhibit.html

Artifacts recovered from the wreckages of NASA's Challenger and Columbia space shuttles are for the first time now on public display, part of a powerful new exhibit that is intended to honor the two winged spacecraft and their fallen astronaut crews.

Related photo gallery: Personal items from NASA's fallen space shuttle astronauts

Offline spacecane

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I thought they had buried all of the Challenger wreckage in a silo.  Where have they been keeping this piece for all of these years?

Offline DaveS

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #10 on: 07/01/2015 10:23 am »

I thought they had buried all of the Challenger wreckage in a silo.  Where have they been keeping this piece for all of these years?
Same silo. I guess that NASA brought it out of storage and offered it for this exhibit. They did the same with the window frame of Columbia who's debris is stored in a locked room of the VAB.
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Offline Overflow

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #11 on: 07/10/2015 12:30 am »
I'm gonna go just to see this exhibit in two weeks. I'll get some pictures.

Offline Ronpur50

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #12 on: 07/11/2015 12:34 pm »
I am planning on being there the 27th.

Offline Ronpur50

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #13 on: 07/30/2015 02:10 am »
I saw this on Monday.  When I saw the segment of Challenger's fuselage, I said, "Wow" then seeing the windows of Columbia, I could not even think straight.  It is a very moving experience, and that is an understatement. 

Offline brettreds2k

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #14 on: 08/13/2015 04:51 pm »
I have Visited Atlantis twice, and now it looks like I will have to go back again. Seeing the Peice of Challenger when ABC News covered the exhibit the other morning brought tears to my eyes, but I am so glad a peice of her is out for people to see and pay respect to and seeing the eyes of Columbia (Thats how I view her window panels on display) is very hard to see as well so I am very eager to go back soon and pay respect to the 2 ladies and her crews.
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Orbiters I have visited in retirement:

[ ] Enterprise
[X] Discovery
[X] Atlantis
[ ] Endeavour

Offline Kansan52

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #15 on: 08/13/2015 05:17 pm »
Wonderful.

Offline Ronpur50

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #16 on: 08/13/2015 10:09 pm »
seeing the eyes of Columbia (Thats how I view her window panels on display)

It is so ironic you mentioned that.  I thought of the same thing and there is a bar protruding down from one window of Columbia, and when I saw it, I thought of a tear from her eyes.

Online Semmel

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #17 on: 06/19/2018 03:11 am »
Very memorable. It takes just 2 minutes to walk through and look at every screen, but I took me more than half an hour to get through yesterday. I dont know how you can fully appreciate KSC if you go only one day. Take two, at least. You need the time to get stuff like that sink in. Also, the Apollo 1 memorial is of similar quality and minimum walk-through time vs. actual time spend ratio.

Offline vandersons

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #18 on: 08/15/2018 07:34 pm »
Visited KSC back in July and didn't know about this memorial display before going so got quite an emotional surprise when I got to it. Seeing the panel from Challenger and Columbias window made my eyes tear up.

For some reason seeing the actual tormented hardware in person invoked just a different realization of what happened and the true reality of it. The mental disconnect that a screen provides gets ripped away in an instant and it all becomes bare harsh reality.

Offline wolfpack

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Re: Forever Remembered Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center.
« Reply #19 on: 08/16/2018 01:20 am »
Visited KSC back in July and didn't know about this memorial display before going so got quite an emotional surprise when I got to it. Seeing the panel from Challenger and Columbias window made my eyes tear up.

For some reason seeing the actual tormented hardware in person invoked just a different realization of what happened and the true reality of it. The mental disconnect that a screen provides gets ripped away in an instant and it all becomes bare harsh reality.

Yes, it’s hard. I was there in March and had to explain it to my kids. There were many pauses.

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