Keith’s note: Back in 2004 my late co-author Frank Siezten and I wrote a book “New Moon Rising” about the Vision for Space Exploration that was developed after the loss of Columbia. Frank left us too – a few years back he became the first space journalist to have his ashes sent into space – on a SpaceX rocket (Frank was their first Washington, DC employee). A few years later I found myself on the Board of Directors of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. At one point I spoke at the dedication of the Columbia Center now located on the old Rockwell International Downey, CA site where space shuttles were built – and I walked past them (and stood inside several) every day. I spoke at point in the building which was once a parking lot where I parked my car. I will be at Arlington on Thursday as I have for the past 3 decades. This is from the epilog from our book: “NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe’s remarks were brief, intense, and below the surface emotional. At the end, he pointed toward the future. “Generations from now, when the reach of human civilization is extended throughout the solar system, people will still come to this place to learn about and pay their respects to our heroic Columbia astronauts. They will look at the astronauts’ memorial and then they will turn their gaze to the skies, their hearts filled with gratitude for these seven brave explorers who helped blaze our trail to the stars.”
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