Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

Happy Birthday Buzz Aldrin!

This calls for a celebration!



And best wishes for continued good health.

And fittingly, here's this unforgettable intarsia artwork by Judy Gale Roberts featuring Buzz Aldrin's salute in front of the US flag, which he may or may not know.

[roma847]

Dear friends,

following this joyous event, today marks a sad anniversary in NASA's spaceflight history.

Forty years ago today, the Challenger mission STS-51-L became the first launch from the newly built Launch Pad 39B,


Source: wikimedia.org

one that ended in disaster 73 seconds after liftoff, when the Space shuttle exploded, resulting in the deaths of the seven-member Challenger crew.


Front: Michael Smith, Francis Scobee, Ronald McNair; Back row: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik (from left to right)
Source: wikimedia.org

Last year, during my vacation, I paid my respects at their grave in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington. R.I.P.



Let us remain in silence and forever keeping their legacy in our remembrance.

[Alpha Control]

Well said, Manfred.

[roma847]

Let's keeping their legacy alive together.

I will never forget the stunned faces of Ronald and Nancy Reagan ...

[roma847]

Hello friends,

today is another day of sad remembrance, because in 2003 the terrible Columbia disaster occurred.


Source: wikimedia.org

As the routine evaluation of the film footage of the launch revealed a day later, approximately 81 seconds after the launch of the 28th Columbia mission (STS-107), a piece of the foam insulation broke off from the External tank (ET-93) and hit the left wing at its leading edge.

NASA, however, assumed only minor damage to the heat shield, as similar incidents had never resulted in serious damage before, especially since high-speed images showed that the fragment left a cloud of particles after impact, which was interpreted as evidence of its destruction. Therefore, NASA decided to continue the mission as normal, a decision that subsequently proved to be a serious miscalculation.


Source: wikimedia.org

After its two-week flight, the Space shuttle broke apart on February 1, 2003 during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. †


Front: Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William McCool; Back row: David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon (from left to right)
Source: wikimedia.org

Last year, during my vacation trip, I paid my last respects to them at their memorial, the official Columbia Space Shuttle Memorial, in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington. R.I.P.



The memorial (in the background of the image) is located just a few meters from the grave of the Challenger crew (in the foreground).



Therefore, let us remain in silence today again and forever honor their legacy in our memory.