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In Memory of
the
crew of Challenger
(51-L)
28 January 1986
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Francis Scobee,
Commander
Michael Smith, Pilot
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Teacher in Space
Orlando Sentinel on 29 January 1986
Icarus: Born on Wings of Steel
Early in the morning
sunlight
Soaring on the wings of dawn
Here I'll live and die with my wings in the sky
And I won't come down no more
Higher than a bird
I'm flying
Crimson skies of ice and fire
Borne on wings of steel I have so much to feel
And I won't come down no more
Sail on, sail on, I
will rise each day to meet the dawn
So high, so high
I've climbed the mountains of the sky
Without my wings you know I'd surely die
I found my freedom flyin' high
I've climbed the mountains of the sky
Floating on a cloud
of amber
Searching for the rainbow's end
Earth so far below me,
I'm here alone, free
I can't come down no more
Kerry Livgren
The crew of the
space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the
manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them,
nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for
the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of
earth' to 'touch the face of God.' - President Ronald Reagan, 28 January 1986
