Remembering the Fallen Astronauts

I have been away from my computer for the past three days, but I don’t want to fail to mention that this past week was the anniversary of all three of the most calamitous events to befall the American space program, with fatal accidents occurring in connection with the following spacecraft: Apollo 1 (January 27, 1967); the shuttle orbiter Challenger (January 28, 1986); and the shuttle orbiter Columbia (February 1, 2003). I remember where I was when I heard about or saw each of these incidents, which resulted in the loss of a total of seventeen good men and women. The best that can be said about these sad days is that they may have helped us understand how to avoid similar accidents in the future. Space is hard, and the people who visit it are more or less always in peril. Let’s not forget that—or them.