this week in history--apollo 1, challenger, and columbia

January 27, 1967----Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a launchpad fire in the Apollo Command Module during a preflight test at Cape Canaveral. The fire started at 6:31 P.M., probably from a short in a bunch of wires next to Grissom's seat. Because the module cabin had been filled with pure oxygen, the fire was out of control in a matter of seconds and the astronauts never had a chance to escape. See the link:
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo1info.html


January 28, 1986----The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch. All seven crew members were killed, including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher ever chosen for a space mission. The following link will take you to the text of the speech Pres. Ronald Reagan made to the nation following the disaster:
http://home.neo.rr.com/thesharktank/speech.htm


February 1, 2003----The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere, just 15 minutes before their scheduled landing. There were no survivors. The following link will take you to a NASA site dedicated to remembering the crew:
http://history.nasa.gov/columbia/

Who can separate us from Christ's love? Can trouble or hard times or harm or hunger? Can nakedness or danger or war?
No! In all these things we will do even more than win! We owe it all to Christ, who has loved us.
I am absolutely sure that not even death or life can separate us from God's love. Not even angels or demons, the present or the future, or any powers can do that. Not even the highest places or the lowest, or anything else in all creation can do that. Nothing at all can ever separate us from God's love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done.---Romans 8:35, 37-39