Space Mirror Memorial

The Space Mirror Memorial, also known as the Astronaut Memorial, is a monument on the grounds of the visitor area of ​​the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Iceland. It is maintained by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, whose offices are located at the NASA Center for Space Education next to the visitors' area. The monument was inaugurated in 1991 to commemorate the lives of women and men who died in the space programs of the United States, especially NASA. The Space Mirror Memorial was appointed by Congress to the National Memorial.

In addition to the 20 who died in the service of NASA astronauts, the memorial includes the names of the X-15 test pilot and another officer in the U.S. Air Force, which crashed during a test flight of a civilian who died in the Challenger accident, as well as an Israeli astronaut who was killed in the Columbia disaster.

Components of the monument

The main component of the monument is the Space Mirror, a large mirror made ​​of black granite, which is divided into 90 smaller fields. The names of the 24 deceased astronauts are scattered on the mirror, the names of the casualties are listed together on the same or adjacent field. The names have been cut through the entire thickness of the mirror and filled with translucent acrylic. Through a combination of reflected sunlight and headlights light up the letters seem to float in a reflection of the sky.

Located near the Space Mirror is a granite wall with pictures and short biographies of the persons listed on the mirror.

The design of the Space Mirror was the result of an international design competition, the architectural firm that Holt Hinshaw Pfau Jones and won.

The financing of the monument

The Astronauts Memorial Foundation and the Space Mirror Memorial, partially financed by special motor vehicle license plate, issued by the State of Florida. The Challenger Plate -called license plate was first issued in 1987 and was the first and most popular specialty license plate, issued by the State. The third edition, introduced in 2004, contained the name of the Columbia in the text, but is still called Challenger Plate. The memorial cost 6.2 million U.S. dollars.

Disused solar tracking

The monument was fitted with engines, so that it could follow the path of the sun. Parabolic mirror on the back of the deflected light on the names of the dead who were thus brilliantly illuminated. Additional headlights were used when the sun is not enough.

In 1997, the system failed, with a steel beam hit on the adjacent platform. The insurance company paid $ 375,000 for the repair. Due to further problems with the rotating ring of the mechanism but later came to a halt again.

Based on estimated repair costs of $ 700,000, the Astronauts Memorial Foundation decided better to invest the money in education programs. The headlights have been set for different and burn now 24 hours a day.

Dear people

In this monument only persons may be included who were killed during a funded by the United States space mission or while training for such. For a detailed list of space disasters see list of disasters of space travel.

The honored with a monument persons are:

  • Theodore Freeman, one of the recruits of the " Astronaut Group 3 ," 1963, died in a training accident at a Northrop T-38 on 31 October 1964.
  • Elliott See and Charles Bassett were killed in a T -38 accident on February 28, 1966, when their plane crashed on a foggy day in the McDonnell Building 101. They were originally intended as a crew of Gemini 9. Bassett was another recruit of the group 3, while the lake was a recruit of the Astronaut Group 2 from the year 1962.
  • Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee Bruce made ​​on January 27, 1967, to Plugs -out test in the Apollo 1 capsule, in which a short circuit flammable object with pressurized pure oxygen inflamed filled capsule. The astronauts died from carbon monoxide poisoning before the ground crews could reach them. Grissom, one of the astronauts of the "Mercury " program was previously flown twice. White led the first U.S. spacewalk aboard the Gemini 4 Chaffee, a freshman, was a Group 3 recruit.
  • Clifton Williams died in a T -38 training accident on October 5, 1967. He was another Group 3 recruit and had heard in the Astronaut rotation in the Apollo project for the crew of Apollo 12. A fourth star on the official insignia of the Apollo 12 mission also reminded of him. Alan Bean, who has taken place in the Apollo 12 Williams, Williams is said to have left behind astronaut badge as a sign of his loss on the moon.
  • Michael J. Adams died in an X -15 crash on 15 November 1967. He was not a NASA astronaut, but his astronaut badge has acquired as part of the X -15 program. He was also part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory - program of the United States Air Force.
  • Robert H. Lawrence, Jr. died on 8 December 1967, when the F- 104, which he tested, crashed and the parachute did not open his ejection seat. He belonged to the time of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory - program and would be the first African American in space.
  • On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke up 73 seconds after start of the mission STS -51 -L. All seven crew members - Francis Richard Scobee, Michael John Smith, Ronald Erwin McNair, Gregory Bruce Jarvis, Judith Resnik Arlene, Ellison Shoji Onizuka, and Christa McAuliffe - died. Scobee, McNair, Resnik and Onizuka had flown earlier. McAuliffe took part in Space project as part of the Teacher.
  • Manley Lanier Carter died on April 5, 1991 in the crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 2311th Carter traveled on behalf of NASA. He had participated in STS -33 and trained at the time for STS- 42nd
  • On 1 February 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry at the end of mission STS -107 due to damage incurred during startup. The crew consisted of Rick Douglas Husband, William McCool Cameron, David McDowell Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Philip Anderson, Laurel Blair Salton Clark and Ilan Ramon. Husband, Chawla and Anderson were veterans. Ilan Ramon was a pilot of the Israeli Air Force.

Gallery

The Dignity Memorial

Another view of the Space Mirror

Merritt Island, Florida List of National Memorials of the United States STS-107 Northrop T-38 Talon Gemini 9A Project Mercury Ronald McNair Gregory Jarvis Sonny Carter STS-33 STS-42 David M. Brown Fallen Astronaut African American Civil War Memorial Benjamin Franklin National Memorial Cape Henry Memorial Chamizal National Memorial Coronado National Memorial David Berger National Memorial De Soto National Memorial Father Marquette National Memorial Federal Hall Flight 93 National Memorial Fort Caroline Grant's Tomb George Mason Memorial Hamilton Grange National Memorial Jefferson Memorial John Ericsson National Memorial Korean War Veterans Memorial Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War II Oklahoma City National Memorial Port Chicago disaster Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial Ulysses S. Grant Memorial United States Navy Memorial Marine Corps War Memorial USS Arizona Memorial Washington Monument Wright Brothers National Memorial
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