Memorial Card of Flight Crew

NASA

Memorial card commemorating McNair, Onizuka, Resnik, Scobee, Smith, McAuliffe, and Jarvis. The inscription on the card reads: "They slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." The origin of the inscription is a paraphrased excerpt from "High Flight", a poem by aviator John Gillespie Magee, who in turn borrowed it in part from Cuthbert Hicks' poem, The Blind Man Flies. High Flight: http://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2013/09/john-gillespie-magees-high-flight/ Responding to the events of the Challenger launch, speechwriter Peggy Noonan paraphrased the line of poetry at the conclusion of the address she wrote for President Ronald Reagan. This speech is now widely known as Reagan's Challenger Address. 51L Memorial Montage designed by Bill Corey of TGS.