070516-N-6724S-049 WASHINGTON (May 16, 2007) – Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Davida Edwards examines the Apollo 11 Command Module in the lobby of the National Air and Space Museum. Edwards was one of 14 Precommissioning Unit George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Sailors touring the museum as part of the command’s weekly heritage tours of the nation’s capital. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Aaron Strickland (RELEASED)
Scaled Composites Model 316 SpaceShipOne completed the first privately funded human spaceflight on June 21, 2004.
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...Development costs were estimated to be $25-million, funded completely by Paul Allen.
From 9/11/2001 to 6/21/2004 is: 33.333 months.
Looking at the photo's of the USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 and the USS Cole DDG-67 on the salvage ships, I am reminded of what I said a long time ago. I was at Microsoft and I said something about whether I should race at an Ironman triathlon to the point that I either won, or they carried me off in a stretcher. I listen for echo's of such comments and that reminds me of something Senator Ted Steven's said about some bridge project he was trying to get funding for.
I think this was the project Stevens was referring to.
The Gravina Island Bridge is a proposed $315 million bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,000) to developable land on Gravina Island and improve access to Ketchikan International Airport. The bridge would replace or augment a seven-minute ferry ride from Ketchikan to its airport
If I have this figured out correctly, I was on the Royal Navy's HMS Sheffield when it was hit by anti-ship missiles during the Falklands War. Then after I completed my escape after being a POW in Libya in 1986, I was on the USS Stark FFG-31 when it was hit by missiles on 5/17/1987. The USS Samuel B. Roberts FFG-58 then was hit by anti-ship mines, or possibly torpedos, on 4/14/1988, also because I was onboard. There is a difference of 333 days between the attack on the Stark and the Roberts. The USS Wainwright CG-28 was almost hit by missiles on 4/18/1988, and I know I was onboard that ship, but my memories are symbolic and artificial of that experience. I wasn't onboard the USS Cole DDG-67 when it was hit by terrorists on 10/12/2000, but I believe that ship was hit because it was my first assignment as commanding officer of a U.S. Navy destroyer. I wondered one day at Microsoft why Vince Maraia was telling me something about how he liked destroyer ships. I wondered why he was telling me that.
1982: Argentines destroy HMS Sheffield
The British ship HMS Sheffield has been hit by an Argentine missile fired from a fighter bomber.
It is not clear how many of the 268 crew have perished.
The sinking has shocked the British nation and foiled any possible diplomatic solution to the current dispute over the Falkland Islands between Britain and Argentina.
The ship caught fire when a French-made Exocet missile penetrated deep into HMS Sheffield's control room. The blaze caused a poisonous smoke and most of the crew abandoned ship.
A major rescue operation has been launched in the South Atlantic as relatives thousands of miles back in the UK wait for news of their loved ones.
DN-ST-87-06415
A port quarter view of the guided missile frigate USS STARK (FFG 31) listing to port after being struck by an Iraqi-launched Exocet missile.
Camera Operator: US NAVY
Date Shot: 18 May 1987
DN-ST-89-01562
A view of damage sustained by the guided missile frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) when it was hit by two Iraqi-launched Exocet missile while on patrol in the Persian Gulf.
Date Shot: 1 May 1987
DN-ST-89-01420
A starboard bow view of the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58) secured on the deck of the Dutch heavy lift ship MIGHTY SERVANT II. The frigate is returning to its home port for damage repair after striking an Iranian mine while on patrol in the Persian Gulf.
Location: NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND (RI) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)
Camera Operator: PH2 JEFF ELLIOTT, USN
Date Shot: 31 Jul 1988
DF-ST-88-08763
Members of the 2nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron and the 63rd Medical Evacuation Squadron remove injured sailors from a UH-60 Black Hawk (Blackhawk) helicopter. The men will be flown to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas for treatment of burns they received when their ship, the guided missile frigate USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58), struck a mine while on escort duty in the Persian Gulf.
Camera Operator: PATRICK NUGENT
Date Shot: 20 Apr 1988
DN-SN-93-01438
Fireman James Seward sleeps on the forecastle of the guided missile frigate SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58). Some of the crew are sleeping on the deck because of hull damage sustained when the ship struck a mine on April 14, 1988. The guided missile cruiser USS JOUETT (CG-29) is in the background.
Camera Operator: PH2 RUDY D. PAHOYO
Date Shot: 16 Apr 1988
USS COLE is lifted by MV Blue Marlin, a Norwegian dry dock vessel, off the coast of Aden, Yemen on October 31, 2000. The American destroyer was bombed by suspected terrorists in the port of Aden, Yemen October 12. The Blue Marlin will transport the damaged warship back to the United States.
Camera Operator: SGT M.C. MILLER, USMC
Date Shot: 31 Oct 2000
This is a curious photo. The ship in the foreground appears to be the USS Kauffman FFG-59.
USS Cole (DDG 67)
Commissioned: June 8, 1996
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The photos below were taken by Brian Barton when USS COLE was inport Norfolk, Va, on July 23, 2002.
