There are a few significant events where the majority of folks can remember exactly where they were and exactly what they were doing.  The assassination of JFK and 9/11 come to mind.  Many of us also remember the day 25 years ago when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded and disintegrated just 73 seconds after launch.

CNN Video of Challenger Launch

I was in the Control Tower at Beale Air Force Base.  We had just finished launching an operational sortie and activities were transitioning from hectic to routine.  Suddenly  a very agitated sounding voice at Sacramento Approach came across the "shout line", "...Beale.  Sacramento Approach!  The Space Shuttle has just exploded!"  Our immediate reply was, "...what?!?  Don't joke like that."  But very soon it was clear that this was no joke and that NASA and our nation had just experienced a tragedy of major proportions.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster.  Each of us who can will remember this day in our own way and in our own hearts.  For me I choose not to mourn the seven astronaut's death, but instead I choose to honor their courage and their selfless service in advancing our nation's exploration of space.

RIP Challenger Seven.  You are gone, but you are not forgotten.

Commander Francis R. (Dick) Scobee

Pilot Michael J. Smith

Mission specialists Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka and Judith A. Resnik

Payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe

High Flight — John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

More to follow...

Braun Tacon