nasa marked three of the worst tragedies today. each occurring in the same winter week. in 1967, fire on the launch pad killed three astronauts on board apollo 1. including gus grisham, member of the original mercury program. in 1986, the shuttle acc challenger exploded killing all seven on board, including the first teacher in space. the tragedy witnessed by school children shook the nation. i know it s hard to understand that sometimes painful things like this happen. it s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. it s all part of taking a chance and expanding man s horizons. the future doesn t belong to the faint-hearted. it belongs to the brave. finally in 2003, minutes from landing, the space shuttle columbia broke apart
killed when the shuttle columbia burned up upon reentry. then president bush remembered the heroes who reached for the stars but never came home. our journey into space will go on. in the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. it is farther than we can see. there is comfort and hope. martha: steve harrigan is live at the kennedy space center in cape canaveral, florida. morning, steve. reporter: martha, we re just a few minutes away here from the ceremonies to mark the day of remembrance for men and women who have given their lives in service of space exploration, beginning in 1967 with the apollo 1 tragedy, a fire on board the launch capsule there killed three astronauts, all three on board including gus grissom, who was a member of the mercury program. next in 1986, the space shuttle challenger came apart after just 7 seconds in flight.
are easy, but because they are hard. the mercury program would ultimately have six manned flights. each mission a step closer to the ultimate goal. then as mercury was winding down on november 22nd, 1963 president kennedy was assassinated. to honor his memory and the future of the works that he started, the nasa launch operation center shall here to be known as the john f. kennedy space center. in april 1964 nasa launched project gemini. the gemini was started and it was a two-man spacecraft. the gemini program was specifically to show that we could do a rendezvous and dock. in order to get to the moon you had to have capability of two weeks in space. you had to beke able to rendezvous. you had to be able to do eva, get outside the spacecraft in a spacesuit, and you had to have a guided re-entry.
in the times. man wants it that required a few good men 7 to start with. there was 110 selected by the air force and navy. it whittled down to 32 after the interviews. 32 of us went to the clinic and i was the only guy to fly. oo i i had a high belly reuben which was a pigment in your blood. based on that they said well you are out. at the time your little boy was into dinosaurs and rockettes. you were not into dinosaurs. when i didn t get into the mercury program i was interested in rockettes before the guys could spell. project mercury began in 1958 with the goal to put a human in orbit and doing so before the soviets could. on the second count they failed.
of whitney houston. today. [ applause ] . opening the service, joe carter pastor of the new hope baptist church in newark, new jersey, the church that houston grew up. the four horse that fold were mournful, reverent and ultimately joyous. there was a grace that carried. a grace that carried her from heaven down through mr. houston, a grace that brought her up from speaking. from what i understand she wasn t supposed to speak let alone sing. there was a grace that carried her through. the same grease led her all the way to the top of the charts. sold all of these albums and just done some amazing things, won all these awards. she sang for presidents and there was a grace that kept on carrying her. fans will get to see whitney houston performing new music in the film sparkle scheduled for release this summer. one of her last projects before her untimely death. bishop t.d. jakes produced the movie and was sure that houston was poised for a come back. don t you dare th