The Stars My Destination: S.T.S.-3

On Monday, 21 March 2022, I published episode № DCCCLXXII of "The Explorers' Club," about the Endurance, Shackleton's ship for the Imperial Trans-Antarctice Expedition. That's an entirely worthy episode of "The Explorers' Club," & was prompted by the discovery of the wreck of the Endurance earlier this month, but, really, that episode could have been published anytime & publishing on that particular date precluded coverage of the fortieth anniversary of the liftoff the Space Shuttle Columbia on S.T.S-3 on 22 March. What happened?

I made the bad decision starting with the fortieth anniversary of S.T.S.-1 in April 2021 (12-14 April 1981) to devote only a single "The Explorers' Club" episode to each Space Shuttle flight, no matter its duration, in contrast to the multiple episodes devoted to the longer Gemini flights & every Apollo (& forthcoming Skylab) flight. I marked my calendar according to that bad decision, choosing Sunday, 27 March to cover the fortieth anniversary of S.T.S.-3 (22-30 March 1982). I later reconsidered that decision & decided to devote multiple episodes to the longer Space Shuttle flights, but neglected to update my calendar to reflect the new schema. I am now in the process of updating "The Explorers' Club's" publication calendar.

One of the reasons for the mistaken single-episode decision is the sheer number of Space Shuttle flights: one hundred thirty-five over thirty years (1981-2011). That huge number is still the reason I'm not going to cover Space Shuttle flights exactly the same way I've covered Gemini & Apollo flights: I'm not going to give every Space Shuttle flight a Song of the Day for every day spent in orbit. There were ten manned Gemini flights over two years (1965-1966) & eleven manned Apollo flights over five years (1968-1972). Twenty-one total flights verses one hundred thirty-five. Each Space Shuttle flight is worthy of close attention from "The Explorers' Club," but the task of musically differentiating each is more than I'm willing to take on. By that same logic of scale, I'm not going to dedicate a Song of the Day to every day of the three manned Skylab missions, which lasted twenty-eight, fifty-nine, & eighty-four days.

I regret missing the fortieth anniversary of S.T.S.-3's liftoff & have taken steps to prevent another such error.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXXII

The Endurance—A three-masted barquentine with a steam engine, launched in 1912 as the Polaris, she was purchased by Sir Ernest Shackleton for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917); the Endurance was purpose-build for Arctic voyages & was heavily reinforced; trapped in the sea ice of the Weddell Sea near Vahsel Bay in January 1915, she was crushed & sank in November 1915.

Commentary: The wreck of the Endurance was discovered on 5 March 2022 by the Endurance22 expedition operating from the R.V. S. A. Agulhas II. Not one of Shackleton's crew perished aboard the Endurance, so she isn't a grave, yet no artifacts were salvaged because the shipwreck is protected by the Antarctic Treaty System.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: The Endurance
Bombskare, "Sink or Swim" from A Million Ways to Die (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)