Remembering

Why do the half mast rememberance on a date where nothing occurred? It ought to be Jan. 27th or 28th or Feb. 1st.

Editor's note: Why not pick a date in between the actual dates whereby all crews could be honored - together?

NASA's agency-wide Day of Remembrance is the last Thursday of January every year.

With regards to other events:

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana will lead a wreath laying ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial at the KSC Visitor Complex on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

The city of Titusville will hold a memorial at Sand Point Park on Saturday from 10:00 to 11:00 am.

Throughout the day, please feel free to visit the Memorial Grove to celebrate the lives of these great explorers who served their country well.

It is also good to remember the cause of these events which are sometimes quickly forgotten because we like to remember Heros as they should be.

I'm not sure about the protocal for lowering the Flaq to Half staff.

I did spend a moment of silience.

By picking a single date in between, we shallow the remembrance. We should never forget these crews and hold 3 separate half mast events on the 3 dates they occurred. How much trouble is it for NASA centers to lower the flag to half mast on 3 days within a single week of the year?

Editor's note: you work at JSC, why not ask your management?

Let history never forget the words:

Apollo 1.

Challenger.

Columbia.

Ad Astra.

I miss them all.

I am old enough to remember where I was and what I was doing for all three tragedies.

Whatever I'm doing Thursday morning, I will stop for a moment to remember.

And for myself, it's Remembrance "Week", not "Day"...and it ends on February 4th for personal reasons.

Spock summed it up with one word..."Remember".

For those at the various Centers; as Gus once said: "Do Good Work."

Never forget their sacrifices..........

I mean this sincerely and with all due respect:

We should also have rememberances for the robotic space probes that conked out in the line of duty, whether they were blown up by the rocket taking them into space, or died before their time on some distant alien planet.

They went without asking and without even a chance of ever coming back.

Editor's note: when robot families mourn their loss and when high schools are named after lost probes then I agree that this makes sense.

"We should also have rememberances for the robotic space probes...
@demd: Seriously?

I agree with Keith that a common day whereby all the crews can be remembered together is the proper approach. True, it's not much to ask that the flags be flown at half-staff on the actual days, but a common memorial service, in my view, is best.

@John D: I respectfully disagree with the notion that having a common memorial service "on a single date in between" shallows any remembrance of the three crews. Instead, a common date honors their life, work, and dedication to Agency and Country together, as it should be. They all died pursuing a common dream and working towards a common goal. Why not commemorate and honor them together?

>>> We should also have rememberances for the robotic space
>>> probes that conked out in the line of duty, whether
>>> they were blown up by the rocket taking them into
>>> space, or died before their time on some distant alien
>>> planet.

This is a joke right? A sick joke but a joke?

I was attending advanced Pulse Radar School at Redstone Arsenal (RSA) in Huntsville, AL. when Challenger blew up; it was a truly bad day at the office as they say. It meant even more as one of my instructors used to work for NASA at MSFC in support of the Saturn V.

I was five when Neil & Buzz took a walk, my Dad & an Uncle worked for Aerojet during those days, it was a time when we as a country could do anything we set our minds too. It is time to return to those days, THAT would be the ultimate memorial to the fine Men & Women who have perished in the pursuit of Manned space flight.

Go at throttle up!!!

Dallas Schwartz
USMC (Ret.)

"We should also have rememberances for the robotic space probes that conked out in the line of duty, whether they were blown up by the rocket taking them into space, or died before their time on some distant alien planet."

Sounds like a Cylon sympathizer to me...;)

Take it as you will, but there will be plenty of sad folks both at JPL and beyond when the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportuntiy send their last transmissions to Earth,as just one example.

Space probes develop personalities like most machines and the ones who built and operate them become very attached to them. And as I said, unlike the human astronauts they have no say in where they are going and they almost never get to come back home.

Some day our space probes will be equipped with real AI - then the debate about what is intelligent and alive will really begin. I wonder if they will do what the humans ask them to do or carry out their own plans?

Dave H. said:

Sounds like a Cylon sympathizer to me...;)

Number 6 is oh so good at making converts to their cause.

Let's keep these events in mind when we campaign to keep the shuttle flying past 2010!

Although Jan 29th has become the tradition, I would personally prefer that the common memorial service be held on Jan. 26 -- so that we could reflect in advance on the upcoming anniversaries for all three tragedies -- and that flags be flown at half mast for a full week from that date.
As flags are being lowered on Feb 2nd, a second small service could be held looking back and once more remembering -- and then ending this period of grieving.

"It is wrong to spend too much time mourning the men who died. Rather thank God that such men lived."
- General George S. Patton

"If we die, do not mourn for us. This is a risky business we're in, and we accept those risks. The space program is too valuable to thiscountry to be halted for too long if a disaster should ever happen."

- Gus Grissom, three weeks before he was killed in the Apollo 1 fire.

"Sacrifices must be made."

— Otto Lilienthal, one of the main sources of inspiration for the Wright brothers; this was a favorite phrase. He died August 10, 1896 from injuries sustained two days earlier in a crash of one of his hang gliders.

German: "Opfer mussen gebracht werden."

Perhaps you've noticed the picture of Yuri Gargarin(among others) on the back wall of the ISS' Zvezda Service Module. Once all the space station's internal outfitting is complete, I hope NASA can set aside a panel for a permanent memorial to the three crews.

"Take it as you will, but there will be plenty of sad folks both at JPL and beyond when the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportuntiy send their last transmissions to Earth,as just one example."

I've been to JPL numerous times, and sadly, there is no Space Probe Memorial at the laboratory.

Don't worry Mars Observer, Mars Polar Lander, Mars Climate Orbiter, Galileo and Magellan... We will always remember you.

:D

Do you think the astronauts aboard the ISS want constant reminders of the men and women who were killed whle performing their profession? Things can be scary enough up there without that extra push.

Perhaps a memorial somewhere private, but then again, who is going to see it but the crew? The Russians have already banned tourists, and that is another matter for another topic (more reason to get private industry up there, for one).

When thinking about our artificial offspring who made the final sacrifice to further our knowledge of the Universe, don't forget the space probes of other nations which also did not make it, especially all those early Soviet ones whose existences were not even officially noted and even now only merit a footnote in space history.

Manned space missions get all the glory, but in almost every case it took a machine to pave the way first.

The best memorial to robotic probes that were lost is to send up the next one. Risk aversion is one of the most serious problems and largest cost of our human space flight enterprise. When something bad happens, we DON'T send up the next one for a long, long time.

Such memorializing sounds like something from PETR (People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots) which, not entirely surprisingly, does exist.

When automated probes reach the point where they are conscious and self-awareness then it's time to build memorials to them when they die on the job. Until then, recognition, with models in a museum, to their discoveries will do.