The worst week in the history of space exploration

January 27, 1967: Apollo 1 fire during launch testing.
January 28, 1986: Challenger explodes on launch.
February 1, 2003: Columbia breaks up during reentry.


"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 windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God."

- Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941