Spaced Out! a Space Adventure

Merit and excellent qualifications were the basis on which my crew of astronauts and I were selected to command the Atlantis II space shuttle Mission, which had been originally scheduled to be second in line to launch five months before the terrible Challenger tragedy occurred in January, 1986, killing all seven of its crew-six astronauts and one schoolteacher-just one minute and thirteen seconds after a rather successful liftoff from its Cape Canaveral launch pad.