KSC remembers Columbia, fallen astronauts

James Dean
Florida Today

When Columbia and its crew did not make it home to Kennedy Space Center 15 years ago, a young Tal Ramon returned to Israel and found refuge in the piano his father, Columbia astronaut Ilan Ramon, had bought as a young fighter pilot.

On Thursday, Tal Ramon performed two moving piano songs from his 2016 album, “Character,” during NASA’s annual tribute to fallen astronaut heroes at the KSC Visitor Complex.

“I’m just so emotional to be here with you,” Ramon told an audience at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education, introducing an instrumental piece titled “Victoria.” “After everything that happened, even with the big tragedy, we believe that it’s such a big victory that we are here today to share their stories.”

Tal Ramon, son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, played songs from his album, "Character," during NASA's Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

KSC’s Day of Remembrance honored 24 astronauts killed in the line of duty, including the crews of Apollo 1 and the shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

“Many of the lessons learned in each case we had to learn again,” said Bob Cabana, KSC’s director and a four-time shuttle astronaut. “Now 15 years after Columbia, my goal is that we do not have to learn them yet again, that we do not repeat the mistakes of past as we move forward.”

In addition to Ramon, several astronaut family members shared memories of loved ones who died more than 50 years ago in training and test flights, and are often overshadowed by the Apollo and shuttle crews.

“He left the world with his smile,” said Beth Williams, widow of Clifton “C.C.” Williams. “He had the biggest, infectious smile on the face of the Earth. He walked in a room and he just spread joy.”

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin shook hands Thursday morning with Tal Ramon, son of Columbia astronaut Ilan Ramon, after NASA's Day of Remembrance ceremony honoring fallen astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Williams, a backup Gemini 10 crew member whose family said had been promised an Apollo moon mission assignment, died when his T-38 training jet crashed near Tallahassee on Oct. 5, 1967.

Elliot See and Charles Bassett also died when their T-38 crashed in poor weather on Feb. 28, 1966, hitting the McDonnell Aircraft building near St. Louis where their Gemini 9 spacecraft was being built.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (center) along with family and friends of fallen astronauts place flowers in the fence at the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, FL Thursday morning during Kennedy Space Center's Day of Remembrance.  The annual event honors those who perished in the space program. Mandatory Credit: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK

“I have never grown accustomed to missing dad,” said daughter Karen Bassett Stevenson, who was 8 when the accident happened. “I was just beginning to realize more than my daddy — that people cared about him, depended on him, trusted him, admired him. That he was smart and studious, gregarious, warm and funny and dedicated, and maybe just a teensy bit geeky.”

The Patrick Air Force Base Honor Guard presents the colors during Kennedy Space Center's Day of Remembrance.  The annual event honors those who perished in the space program. Mandatory Credit: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK

“The message of my father’s life continues to inspire today,” added Sally Kneuven, See’s daughter, of Portland, Oregon. “His story and the story of your loved ones still rocks the world and inspires people to shoot for the stars.”

Brent Adams remembered as a 9-year-old being pulled from school with his siblings at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Nov. 15, 1967.

Their father, Michael Adams, had been killed when his X-15 rocket plane went into a tailspin during a suborbital flight and disintegrated during re-entry. He had been selected by the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory astronaut program before returning to the X-15 program, and had flown as high as 266,000 feet.

Friends and family of fallen astronauts place flowers in the fence at the Space Mirror Memorial at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, FL Thursday morning during the center's Day of Remembrance.  The annual event honors those who perished in the space program. Mandatory Credit: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK

“He always wanted to fly and be on the cutting edge,” said Adams, of Monroe, Louisiana.

Eileen Collins, a four-time shuttle flier who heads the Astronauts Memorial Foundation board, said the early astronauts continue to inspire today. 

"We wanted to follow them reaching for the stars, exploring and going higher and faster and farther than anybody else before," she said.

Collins read the names of the 24 fallen astronauts. They included three Apollo 1 crew members killed in a flash fire during a launch pad training exercise on Jan. 27, 1967; the seven Challenger astronauts lost during an explosion 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986; and the Columbia crew lost during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, minutes before their intended landing at KSC.

After a moment of silence concluded the hour-long ceremony, astronauts including Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin joined family members placing a wreath and flowers before the AMF's black granite Space Mirror Memorial, on which the 24 astronauts' names are engraved.

Elsewhere Thursday, acting NASA chief Robert Lightfoot and other senior officials marked the Day of Remembrance by placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FlameTrench.