After I saw this tattoo over on a sibling blog, Science Not Fiction, I knew it had to join the emporium. Its owner, Mark Yturralde, sent me this description of its origin:
After the Columbia accident, I felt compelled to do something. Space has always meant so much to me, and I felt I wanted to memorialize them somehow.
I donated to college funds and other charities in their name, but still felt like I needed to do more, and I found myself reliving and considering Challenger, and Apollo one too, Gus Grissom being a long time hero of mine.
One morning, I made a list of all of them. It just struck me. I’ll put their names on my forearm. People will see them. They’ll ask who they are. I can then tell them about my tattoo, and what it means to me. Everytime someone asks, and I explain it, they take a second. They reflect. They remember.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
This is a little too weird for me. While I instantly knew what the names signified, to me they also signify the stupidity of manned space flight; the irrationality of still using the space shuttle when the men who developed it are mostly dead; and a lot of despair.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Does the list not seem oddly selective? Even if you accept a US-centric view of “Space has always meant so much to me”, there are several other American astronauts who died in various training and other accidents.
And of course there were a number of cosmonauts who died in training, launchpad, or in-flight accidents.
August 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I still say a t-shirt would do the same job as a tattoo. Less painful too.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Only if you want to wear the shirt all the time. And I’m pretty sure that’s not socially acceptable, even if you literally pour on the deodorant.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I say live and let live, wiseguys. Are you all above all?
August 11th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Carl,
The huge dimensions of this photograph are beyond my monitor settings… did we really need to be introduced to this man’s forearm hair follicles? Hurry up and post more good science so this annoying pic gets pushed to archive… I’d much rather see the beauty of spore erupting exoskeletons and Appledor Isle!