I remember being allowed to stay home on the 11th April 1981 to watch the inaugural launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Probably mankind’s most complex machine, the space shuttle programme heralded a new era in space flight – a reusable craft that takes off like a rocket but lands like a plane. As a twelve year old, I thought that humanity was on the verge of a new space age. Here was the space shuttle and soon we would be going back to the moon and beyond.
The launch on that spring day was abandoned due to a glitch of some kind and I enjoyed the rest of the day off. The shuttle finally took to the skies the next day – a Saturday, so no extra day off school. Nearly 22 years later and half a world away I sat watching the same shuttle break up in a fireball over the USA with the loss of all seven astronauts on board.
I just hope that their deaths were quick and painless.
In memory of:
Rick Husband, Commander
William McCool, Pilot
Michael Anderson, Payload Commander
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist and First Israeli Astronaut
Kalpana Chalwa, Mission Specialist
David Brown, Mission Specialist
Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist
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