The Stars My Destination | The Glorious Dead

The anniversaries of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's three greatest tragedies are clusted together within a five-day period: Apollo 1 on 27 January (1967), the Challenger on 28 January (1986), & the Columbia on 1 February (2003). Here are a pair of recent videos from N.A.S.A. honoring those who gave the last full measure of devotion:

"N.A.S.A. Remembers Fallen Heroes"

"N.A.S.A. Day of Remembrace at Arlington National Cemetery"

These tragedies happened almost with a fearful symmetry: There were nineteen years between the Apollo 1 & Challenger disasters (1967-1986) & seventeen years between the Challenger & Columbia disasters (1986-2003), for an average of a fatal accident every eighteen years. It's been eighteen years since the loss of the Columbia. However, the United States did not launch an astronaut into space for nine years (2011-2020)—a longer lull than that between the end of Apollo & the advent of the Space Shuttle (1975-1981)—fully half of the expected interval, which surely throws off the baleful average.

That said, N.A.S.A. is again launching astronuats through contract with SpaceX (Crew Dragon) & expects soon to be launching astronauts through contract with Boeing (Starliner). N.A.S.A.'s own uncrewed Artemis I mission is scheduled for this year—the Orion capsule atop a Space Launch System rocket—with the crewed Artemis II & Artemis III missions planned by 2024. Let us hope that the lessons of the past have been learned & that no more astronauts nor cosmonauts will need to be added to our roll of honor.

Meanwhile, we here at The Secret Base continue our celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 14, the third successful Moon landing, running through 9 February.