Oh boy, don't get me started on this. America's space programs have been one of my favorite science projects for a long time.
Let's dispense with one glaring omission. In 1896, Adolph Ochs purchased the New York Daily Times, it was a failing paper with less than 9000 circulation. Ochs died in 1935 and the paper was taken over by his son-in-law, Arthur Hays Sulzberger. It has been owned by the Sulzberger family ever since. A white male has been running the NYT for 123 years. No woman or African American or Hispanic or Asian has ever sat in the driver's seat.
Now to the Apollo missions, every Apollo astronaut save one were military test pilots. Armstrong and others flew the X-15. On six missions, 11 test pilots and one geologist landed on the moon. When each of these extraordinary white men returned to earth, they were hailed as heros, but when asked about that, all of them attributed their success to the 400,000 Americans of all colors who made it happen. The Apollo astronauts opened the door for men and women of all races to train for missions in space.
To hammer this home, let's take a look at the shuttle tragedies.
On January 28, 1986, the shuttle Challenger launched with a crew of seven, 5 men and 2 women. One of the men was an African American, one was a Hawaiian of Japanese descent. Christa McCauliffe was the famous "Teacher in Space." The Challenger liquid fuel tank exploded 73 seconds after launch and the crew perished when their intact crew cabin struck the ocean about 2 minutes later.
On January 16, 2003, the shuttle Columbia launched with a crew of seven, 5 men and 2 women. One of the men was an African American and one was an Israeli. Colonel Ilan Ramon was an Israeli air force fighter pilot, and in 1981, he took part in the raid that destroyed Iraq's unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor. Colonel Ramon was Israel's first and only astronaut.
One of the women was born in India and at an early age, Kalpana Chowla was fascinated with aircraft and flying. In India she earned her BS in aeronautical engineering, then came to the US where she earned her doctorate in Aerospace engineering and became a certified flight instructor.
During their 16 days on orbit, the Columbia crew conducted 80 scientific experiments and research projects, some of which were done in concert with scientists on the ground, and all of which were completed. In just 16 days, science took a quantum leap forward because of the work of these extraordinary people.
During the launch on January 16, a 2 pound slab of foam insulation broke loose from the external fuel tank and struck the shuttle's left wing at 500 mph. This strike opened a hole in the wing's leading edge that proved fatal on reentry. The damage was not an issue on orbit and was not detectable by the crew. Since foam debris was a common occurrence during shuttle launches, and video analysis of this particular strike could not determine its severity, it was not considered a "safety of flight" issue.
On February 1, 2003, the Columbia began its reentry over the Indian Ocean, as it crossed the California coast, the intense heat began to destroy the left wing. At about 200,000 feet, traveling at Mach 18, the Columbia experienced complete loss of control over west Texas and was destroyed. Survival was impossible.
The Space Shuttles made a total of 135 trips into orbit and accomplished an incredible number of projects.
Since then, men and women of many nationalities and races have gone into space. The International Space Station is still up there in orbit. 14 countries are involved. The current commander of ISS is a Russian, Alexey Ovchinin, his companions are Americans, Nick Hague and Christina Koch. Talk about "collusion".
We are still up there because of a few good men, white men, the Apollo astronauts.
.
Challenger crew, L to R: Ellison Onizuka, Mike Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Greg Jarvis, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair.
Columbia crew, L to R: Dave Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kolpanan Chowla, Mike Anderson, Willie McCool, Ilan Ramon.