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NYPD Badges to go into space
See the following link:http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/nasa_shields_011019.html
Shields Of All NYPD Officers Lost Sept. 11 To Be Flown On Endeavour
By Todd Halvorson
Cape Canaveral Bureau Chief
posted: 02:33 pm ET
19 October 2001
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The shields of all 23 New York City police officers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center complex will be carried into space and back aboard shuttle Endeavour in late November. Among them: the badge of Sgt. Timothy Roy, 36, who was on his way to turn in his retirement papers but instead responded to the scene after two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin 110-story World Trade Center towers.
"When the call came over the radio, (and) the tragedy at the World Trade Center was occurring, he didn’t think twice. He proceeded immediately to the World Trade Center and into the building to try and save lives, and gave his life," said NYPD Detective Michael Jermyn.
"These shields are the shields of true American heroes."
In a moving ceremony at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., this week, Jermyn presented the shields to agency administrator Daniel Goldin along with an American flag that were recovered from the rubble at "ground zero."
The tattered flag "was recovered the day after the tragedy, torn and kind of wrapped around a flagpole, but still waving," Jermyn said.
The 23 shields, meanwhile, also include the badge of Detective Joseph Vigiano, 32, a member of the NYPD’s elite emergency services unit, which is considered the top unit in the department.
"There’s a saying within the NYPD: When a citizen gets in trouble, they call the cops. When a cop gets in trouble, they call the emergency service," Jermyn said. Wounded three times in the line of duty, Vigiano was killed along at the World Trade Center complex along with his brother John, 32, one of 343 New York City firefighters who also died trying to rescue victims of the terrorist attacks.
The flag and the shields were handed over to NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, who was tasked with making certain that they are loaded aboard Endeavour prior to its planned launch to the International Space Station.
"I promise you that we will guard these carefully as we lift them to the highest place of honor and carry them around the Earth on the International Space Station," Ashby told Jermyn. "Thank you for entrusting us with this very precious cargo."
Set for launch Nov. 29, Endeavour also will carry 6,000 small U.S. flags that will be distributed to the families of those killed in the airliner attacks, which toppled the two New York skyscrapers, damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and resulted in a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
In addition, a flag that was flying over the Pentagon that day will be flown aboard Endeavour along with mementoes from New York City firehouses and the Pennsylvania crash.
Four astronauts aboard Endeavour will be ferrying a new crew to the international station and then returning to Earth with its current tenants. The shuttle is due back on Earth Dec. 10.
Shields Of All NYPD Officers Lost Sept. 11 To Be Flown On Endeavour
By Todd Halvorson
Cape Canaveral Bureau Chief
posted: 02:33 pm ET
19 October 2001
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The shields of all 23 New York City police officers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center complex will be carried into space and back aboard shuttle Endeavour in late November. Among them: the badge of Sgt. Timothy Roy, 36, who was on his way to turn in his retirement papers but instead responded to the scene after two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin 110-story World Trade Center towers.
"When the call came over the radio, (and) the tragedy at the World Trade Center was occurring, he didn’t think twice. He proceeded immediately to the World Trade Center and into the building to try and save lives, and gave his life," said NYPD Detective Michael Jermyn.
"These shields are the shields of true American heroes."
In a moving ceremony at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., this week, Jermyn presented the shields to agency administrator Daniel Goldin along with an American flag that were recovered from the rubble at "ground zero."
The tattered flag "was recovered the day after the tragedy, torn and kind of wrapped around a flagpole, but still waving," Jermyn said.
The 23 shields, meanwhile, also include the badge of Detective Joseph Vigiano, 32, a member of the NYPD’s elite emergency services unit, which is considered the top unit in the department.
"There’s a saying within the NYPD: When a citizen gets in trouble, they call the cops. When a cop gets in trouble, they call the emergency service," Jermyn said. Wounded three times in the line of duty, Vigiano was killed along at the World Trade Center complex along with his brother John, 32, one of 343 New York City firefighters who also died trying to rescue victims of the terrorist attacks.
The flag and the shields were handed over to NASA astronaut Jeff Ashby, who was tasked with making certain that they are loaded aboard Endeavour prior to its planned launch to the International Space Station.
"I promise you that we will guard these carefully as we lift them to the highest place of honor and carry them around the Earth on the International Space Station," Ashby told Jermyn. "Thank you for entrusting us with this very precious cargo."
Set for launch Nov. 29, Endeavour also will carry 6,000 small U.S. flags that will be distributed to the families of those killed in the airliner attacks, which toppled the two New York skyscrapers, damaged the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and resulted in a plane crash in Pennsylvania.
In addition, a flag that was flying over the Pentagon that day will be flown aboard Endeavour along with mementoes from New York City firehouses and the Pennsylvania crash.
Four astronauts aboard Endeavour will be ferrying a new crew to the international station and then returning to Earth with its current tenants. The shuttle is due back on Earth Dec. 10.
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