[amsat-bb] Shuttle launch

[Jim Sanford]

All:

Enjoyed the traffic about seeing the launch from Titusville and other 
places in FL.  I grew up in Titusville with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, 
know the original owner of the 146.94 machine, and remember vividly 
where I was when the astronauts in Challenger died . . . and COlumbia, 
and Apollo 1 . . . .  For me it was PERSONAL, even more so for my kids, 
who had TOUCHED Challenger  - my dad still worked at the cape, and we 
got to go to VIP viewing stands, open houses, and the rest.

I have read the Challenger loss report and the Apollo 13 mission reports 
and assessment of causes. 

I was devastated to read in the Columbia report of the similarities with 
Challenger . . . . .

Last week, in my day job, I was teaching some folks about lessons from 
all of the above, relating it to our professional work.

What does this have to do with AMSAT, other than being space-related?  
I'm reminded of a quote from Santayana:  "He who will not learn from the 
past is condemned to repeat it."

I think we honor the lost heroes by doing all we can to learn from the 
past, including NASA's losses.

Very 73,
Jim
wb4gcs at amsat.org