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Logan Johnson
THE ACE DAREDEVIL PILOT
50 years ago today, the great race to the moon came to a shocking and painful halt. On January 27, 1967, astronauts Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee boarded their spacecraft for what should have been a routine test of the craft on the launchpad. Instead, the command module was soon engulfed in flames, killing all three without ever leaving the ground. At the time, it was the worst disaster NASA had ever experienced, and the tragedy delayed the moon landing by several months and put President Kennedy's challenge to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s at risk. After the accident, the Apollo spacecraft was given numerous safety enhancements, and we were able to land Neil Armstrong on the moon a mere 30 months later. All flight is dangerous and space flight especially so.
Ed, Gus, and Roger: We salute your sacrifice and courage, giving your lives so that we could boldly go where no one had gone before! |