Comments | ontd_startrek: Tribute to Lost Astronauts

ashkitty in ontd_startrek

Tribute to Lost Astronauts

Jan 27, 2011 17:16

Not specifically Trek, but it sort of is, because where would Star Trek and NASA be without each other, seriously?

Since today is the anniversary of Apollo 1, tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, and we're a few days off from the anniversary of the loss of Columbia (dear NASA, stop having missions at the end of January), ( Read more... )

team science

Comments 15

keltyc January 27 2011, 23:17:37 UTC

Thank you for sharing that.

ashkitty January 27 2011, 23:28:29 UTC

Glad to, bb. <33

evelynwordsmyth January 27 2011, 23:20:55 UTC

I first learned about the Challenger tragedy when doing a report in elementary school about one of the astronauts, Christa McAuliffe, who was also a teacher.

It should be also noted, for those who don't know, that 1986, the year of the tragedy, was also the year Star Trek IV came out, and they dedicated the film to the Challenger astronauts.

ashkitty January 27 2011, 23:27:36 UTC

Oh, you've just made me feel old, now! I was in elementary school in 1986 and saw the news as soon as I got to school. (I was on the west coast, so the launch was at 8.38 in the morning, about half an hour before our school started.) We'd been following it excitedly because of the Teacher in Space program, and seen pictures of Christa McAuliffe in the run up to it. We were excited thinking that this would go somewhere, and maybe our teacher would get to go up into space next.

And then we got to school, ready to see the news coverage of the launch, but everyone was wired and acting weird and then they turned on the tv and Challenger was a massive ball of flame.

My grandfather was an engineer on the space program (though not the shuttle) so we'd grown up with it and were really emotionally invested anyway. It was a really heartbreaking day.

I had forgotten about the film being dedicated to them (the good side is that I tear up now every time I'm reminded), thank you for mentioning that!

mangosorbet007 January 27 2011, 23:27:31 UTC

I saw Columbia on the launch pad (from a distance, of course, but still) a few days before that final launch, during a tour of the KSC. I had a late day at work on the day they were supposed to land and I turned on NASA TV and then just kept watching. It was a terrible day.

ashkitty January 27 2011, 23:30:32 UTC

It really was. Columbia was the one I grew up with, albeit from a distance, and was always sort of the symbol of the space program to me. It totally broke my heart.

lady_mercury January 28 2011, 00:11:44 UTC

I remember watching Columbia launching from my house, I live about a 1hr 30min from Coco Beach, and then remembering when I watched on the news about the disaster. It was so surreal... to know that they never came back and died so tragically.

Going to Space Camp as a kid and developing an interest in space/NASA kind of boiled right into getting into Star Trek. Whooo /csb

ashkitty January 28 2011, 11:16:24 UTC

It really is so sad! And yeah, my mom watched TOS in college because of an interest in the space program (her dad was an engineer on the lunar orbiter and Gemini and other Apollos); I think there's a connection for a lot of people...I never got to go to space camp but always wanted to, you're so lucky!

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ashkitty January 28 2011, 11:16:50 UTC

Totally heartbreaking.

You're welcome, bb! I thought we should mark it somehow.