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(Jon sez:)

Your Writer: Jon Kilgannon I'm proud of the dialogue on this page, darn it, and I'm not going to be bothered by the fact that I was overlooked for an Oscar nomination for best screenplay. (I'm told that the Oscar is only for moviegrams, or photo films, or whatever those flickering talkies are called, but I refuse to allow that to sway my opinion on the matter!)

On a more serious note, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were lost forty years ago this past weekend on Pad 34-A at Cape Canaveral when the interior of their Apollo capsule burst into flames during a test. Their deaths led to a re-examination of the design of the Apollo capsule, and ultimately to a change in testing procedures and the design of the capsules. Because of them, future Moon missions could be successful.

The Apollo 1 Hills, near the landing point of the Spirit Rover on Mars, were named for them. And because of who we humans are, some day there will be people there. Maybe not in a decade, but some day. And it's thanks in part to Grissom, White, and Chaffee.

"If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life." --Gus Grissom

(Mark sez:)

Your Artist: Mark Sachs Phew, one of these days I'm going to actually be able to say something here! I've just been so busy. (Fortunately not the lame kind of busy that translates as "I was up all night playing World of Warcraft, so you don't get a comic.")