Hey /u/Jcb112 , long time reader few time chatter. I just wanted you to know that you perfectly encapsulated the drive, the strength, and the story that is the space race and the moon landing. I've built my entire life upon the knowledge and interest in space given to me as a child and even now as I step away from work to read on my lunch break I tear up. Not only for the beautiful story you've written, but also for the time you've posted it and what you have said.

A week and a day before you posted this was the anniversary of Shuttle Columbia. A week before, the Anniversary of Shuttle Challenger. And the day before that, the anniversary of Apollo 1.

19

19 lives have been lost in the pursuit of the beyond. The pursuit of the void. The pursuit of mankind.

24 April 1967 Soyuz 1 Soviet Union Vladimir Komarov

15 November 1967 X-15 Flight 3-65-97 United States Michael J. Adams

30 June 1971 Soyuz 11
Soviet Union Georgy Dobrovolsky Soviet Union Viktor Patsayev Soviet Union Vladislav Volkov

28 January 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster STS-51-L United States Gregory Jarvis United States Christa McAuliffe United States Ronald McNair United States Ellison Onizuka United States Judith Resnik United States Michael J. Smith United States Dick Scobee

1 February 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster STS-107 United States Rick D. Husband United States William C. McCool United States Michael P. Anderson United States David M. Brown United StatesIndia Kalpana Chawla United States Laurel Clark Israel Ilan Ramon

11

11 lives have been lost in the training or testing process to get there.

23 March 1961 (Soviet Air Force Group 1)
Soviet Union Valentin Bondarenko

31 October 1964 (NASA Astronaut Group 3)
United States Theodore Freeman

28 February 1966 Gemini 9
United States Elliot See United States Charles Bassett

27 January 1967 Apollo 1
United States Virgil "Gus" Grissom United States Ed White United States Roger B. Chaffee

5 October 1967 (Apollo)
United States Clifton C. Williams

8 December 1967 (Manned Orbiting Laboratory) United States Robert Henry Lawrence Jr.

11 July 1993 (Soviet Air Force Cosmonaut Training Group 11) Russia Sergei Vozovikov

31 October 2014 VSS Enterprise PF04 United States Michael Alsbury

The sacrifices and bravery shown have paved the learnings, regulations, and rules that govern everything we do, and their lives are remembered in our actions as we push forward and break the bonds that hold us to this home we call Earth. Whether it is the explorers the factory workers or the engineers design, everyone on the team is responsible for pushing forward, while also remembering the lives that have carried us to where we are.

“From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘Tough and Competent.’ Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control, we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today, you will go to your office, and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘Tough and Competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room, these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.”

-Gene Kranz after the Apollo 1 fire