Twenty years after Challenger, where are we?

Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, 1926-1967

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life."

Edward Higgins White, II, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, 1930-1967
Roger Bruce Chaffee, Lieutenant Commander, USN, 1935-1967


STS-51L CREW

Francis R. Scobee, Commander, 1939-1986
Michael J. Smith, Pilot, 1945-1986
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist 1, 1949-1986
Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2, 1946-1986
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist 3, 1950-1986
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist 1, 1944-1986
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist 2, 1948-1986

STS-107
Rick Husband, Colonel, USAF, 1957-2003
William McCool, Commander, US Navy, 1961-2003
David Brown, Captain, US Navy, 1956-2003
Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D, 1961-2003
Michael Anderson, Lietenant Colonel, USAF, 1959-2003
Laurel Clark, Captain, US Navy, 1961-2003
Ilan Ramon, Captain, Israel AF, 1954-2003


NASA says our next walk on the moon should come "before the end of the next decade," with a new ship designed to be reused "up to ten times". So little our dreams these days, and so limited our hopes... and yet I'm glad to see any move in that direction at all. We do them a disservice, if we let fear of the risks they knew and accepted keep us from achieving the progress they gave their lives for.