Thank-you for creating this group, and for the invite Tom! 

Happy 35th Hubble!

Happy Moon Day!

To All at the "Corner.

Happy 50th Launch Day, Viking 1

Happy 48th Launch Day, Voyager 2

Launch date for Artemis 2 announced: February 5, 2026.

This will be the tenth crewed moon mission.

The National Geographic Society has partnered with NASA on the mission.

A four-person crew will loop around the moon and return.

The commander is from Baltimore (My hometown).

Crew has the first woman, the first person of color, and the first Canadian to go to the moon.

I bet Snoopy will be joining them.

As of this week ending Jan. 26th - Feb. 1st, remembering those 17 brave souls who. as President Reagan beautifully phrased it in 1986 . . . [dared to] "leave the surly bonds of Earth, to touch the face of God". 

• Apollo 1 (01-27-1967)
• space shuttle Challenger (01-28-1986)
• space shuttle Columbia (01-02-2003) 

Crew, Apollo 1 -

Gus Grissom, Ed White, Roger Chaffee

Crew, Challenger - 

Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith A. Resnik, Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Ronald E. McNair, Mike J. Smith, Ellison S. Onizuka

Crew, Columbia -

Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Ilan Ramon

~  ~  ~  

NASA's official day of remembrance & mourning for these events is January 22nd, annually. 

NASA Remembers Fallen Heroes

January 28, 1986 -- President Reagan address nation & our child... 

    ~ Scott

TYPO CORRECTION for above:

date of "Columbia" is 02-01-2003

(I inverted the 02 and 01) - site wouldn't let me re-do the same post over again. 

Forty Years ago, January 28, 1986 ( thru 2026), R.I.P., dear CHALLENGER . . . 

I would like to include Major Michael J. Adams who died during the 191st X-15 flight on November 15, 1967.  Altitude 50.5 miles.  Awarded Astronaut wings posthumously.

Tom, 

Yes, I just learned about Major Adams this past week as I've been reading this book ---> 

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

I was remiss in not including his name in the remembrance. I thought it was great that they designated him an astronaut, despite that normally the X- fighter pilots were not normally thus classified. 

- Scott

Scott,

The X-15 program was a joint NASA/Air Force/Navy project.  There were 12 pilots in the program, a mixture of Military and Civilian (ex-Military) pilots. 8 of those pilots flew over the 50-mile limit.  All Military pilots who flew above 50 miles were awarded Astronaut wings.  Ironically, Joe Walker, the only pilot to fly above 100 kilometers (62.15 miles) was a civilian.  He wrote the article "I Fly the X-15" in the September 1962 issue.

He was later killed when his F-104 chase plane got too close to the XB-70 experimental bomber and was caught in its vortex and collided with it destroying both planes.  Another civilian pilot, one who never flew over 50 miles altitude, was Neil Armstrong, who when on to do something or other. ;- )

Tom

Thanks for the additional & further clarification Tom. I am still back-tracking and learning more about the X-program. It had never really been on my radar, other than didn't Chuck Yeager inaugurate that program (ie, 1st to fly and break sound barrier?).

Do you have that above Feb. 2026 TIME magazine copy? 

NG newsletter - Artemis Return To the Moon

I just saw the press conference.  It's official!!!

Artemis II launch: March 6, 2026, 8:29 PM (EST).