remembering the fallen
Today is NASA's Day of Remembrance in honor of the astronauts who lost their lives as our species began to explore the cosmos, particularly the following missions:
Apollo 1 (27 January 1967)
Challenger (28 January 1986)
Columbia (1 February 2003)
See NASA's press release or the Kennedy Space Center's media gallery for more. Interestingly, Gus Grissom wrote the following shortly before he died in the Apollo 1 launchpad fire:
"There will be risks, as there are in any experimental program, and sooner or later, we're going to run head-on into the law of averages and lose somebody. I hope this never happens, and... perhaps it never will, but if it does, I hope the American people won't think it's too high a price to pay for our space program."
The experience of watching the Challenger disaster live on TV made this scene from the 1982 art-house film classic Koyaanisqatsi (website, Wikipedia) all but unbearable:
As mentioned by Brian McLaughlin at Wired's GeekDad, the Latin phrase ad astra per aspera ("through difficulty to the stars") is particularly poignant when juxtaposed with our astronauts' sacrifices.