|
One of the early university traditions
was that students would gather in the classroom quad to watch and
applaud and cheer as rockets were launched from the Kennedy Space
Center. On that cold January morning in 1986, when the Challenger
Disaster occurred, Florida Tech students had gathered in front
of the library for the launch. Ellison S. Onizuka, a Challenger
astronaut, had recently lectured in Gleason Auditorium as part
of Florida Tech's Engineering Week.
This memorial was erected by the
Florida Tech chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor
Society, as a memorial to all of America's fallen astronauts.
Gus Grissom, one of the original
Mercury 7 astronauts, was the first recipient of an honorary doctorate
from the university in 1961. When NASA learned that Major Grissom
was to receive the degree, they told him and the other Mercury
astronauts that NASA policies prohibited the acceptance of honorary
degrees. Grissom replied, "I'm accepting the degree anyway." NASA
grumbled, and Grissom marched. |
