On this Memorial Day, 2011 we of course honor and remember the men and women who gave so much to preserve our freedoms in this country. That path is the most common theme that people follow, and it is most certainly a correct one. But, I’d like to take it a step further, a bit “out of the box”, to honor and remember what those men and women through their sacrifices made possible for us to achieve as a nation. America’s finest hours in my opinion, were made possible by those very people who we honor this Memorial Day. They made it possible to learn, to dream, to build, to adapt, and to work through the darkness to see the light when the situation seemed hopeless.
I can think of no better way to honor our veterans, than to thank them for enabling the environment that gave birth to what you can watch and experience below. This, is science, engineering, mathematics, and uniquely American can-do ingenuity, all combined, and made possible by the sacrifice and the dreams of many whom we honor today.
Please set aside 90 minutes of your time to watch these series of Failure is Not an Option. Few people today know who Gene Kranz is. I’ll tell you who he is, he’s an unsung hero with a remarkable clarity of purpose. In reflecting after watching this documentary, I find it amazing that Gene Kranz and James Hansen were part of the same organization, NASA. The NASA then and that of today, are worlds apart.
This is the NASA I looked up to in my youth. I hope you’ll find this as moving as I did.
Image above: A photo of the vest and pin worn by Gene Kranz during the Apollo 13 mission, by Matthew G. Bisanz.
Pompous Git says: May 31, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Too neat!
Remember to include the line and harpoon set-up developed and used to skewer a sea turtle (shell and muscle) from a dugout canoe using physics of traction in the open seas though!