It is currently on display at Clear Lake High School in Houston.

(meta data) TITLE: NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka's soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion

## On Jan. 28,1986, the space shuttle Challenger stunned the nation when it broke apart 73 seconds into flight.

This is the story of the soccer ball that survived -- and the family that sent it into space, twice.

E:60by Tonya Malinowski Photograph by Shane Kimbrough

The last time Lorna Onizuka spoke to her husband, she mentioned milk.

She and their two daughters, Janelle and Darien, wouldn't be able to have cereal the next morning because she'd left the milk on the porch and it was frozen solid.

The temperature that night in Cape Canaveral, Florida, dropped to 18 degrees, well below the average low of 50.

This would become important later, but for now, it affected only breakfast.

It was late, later than her husband, Ellison, should have been up, but he was restless inside the crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center and wanted to know whether there was news about tomorrow.

Lorna turned on the TV at the house they had rented for the occasion and relayed what she saw: The 10th flight of the space shuttle Challenger was a go.

"I guess we're going to launch tomorrow," Ellison said on the other end of the telephone.

There on Lorna's television, inside the 4.4 million-pound launchpad assembly, inside the space shuttle, inside the crew cabin, inside a locker, inside a black duffel bag, was a soccer ball.

As the Onizuka girls woke up on Jan. 28, 1986, and found something else for breakfast, the ball sat in Ellison's locker on board the shuttle.

As the crew buckled into their seats and countdown progressed, it was just a ball.

Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian-American, the first Japanese-American and the first Hawaiian in space.

Clear Lake High School is perhaps the only place in the country where it's not all that strange to be the child of an astronaut.

Its campus is just 4 miles from Johnson Space Center in Houston, and many of the Falcons have at least one parent whose paycheck comes from NASA.

In January 1986, "Rocky IV" was in theaters, gas was 93 cents per gallon and Janelle Onizuka was sitting through her sophomore classes at Clear Lake, waiting to get to soccer practice.

All week, the team had been passing around a ball to sign.

It was just a practice ball, a little scuffed up and not the best brand.

By all accounts it was unremarkable, except for one very remarkable fact: Janelle's dad, Ellison, was going to take it into space.

Ellison and Lorna were big fans of the Lady Falcons.

El was an assistant coach for the team, though his former players said it was hard to take him seriously when he assigned drills.

Sternness just didn't suit him, especially when he was trying to avoid cracking a smile.

With Ellison's quick wit and Lorna's sweet demeanor, the two became fast friends with the other parents and coaches.

If he was on earth, Ellison tried his best to never miss a game.

"He was supposed to be in quarantine, and he would sneak out just to see a little bit of the game," Lorna says.

"None of us would know until we'd see him at the corner of the fence.

The mid-January evening that Ellison came to pick up the ball was one of those nights he was supposed to be in quarantine.

Janelle hadn't seen him for weeks; the astronauts were kept isolated before missions to avoid getting sick.

But there he was, jogging across the practice field, and suddenly the whole evening buzzed with the electric feeling of being part of something special as a kid -- literally, in this case, part of something far beyond your own small world.

The players on the team presented Ellison with the ball, looking one last time at all their names and "Good Luck, Shuttle Crew!" written in careful strokes, knowing it was a way for each of them to be a part of the great human achievement of the time -- a way to touch the heavens.

Janelle said goodbye to her dad and watched as he jogged back across the field with the ball in his hands, jumping, carefree, across a little ditch.

"I'll always remember this night," Janelle later wrote.

"I can still smell the grass on the practice field.

It is quite literally my last fond memory of my dad face-to-face."

Kealakekua, Hawaii, sits on the western side of the Big Island.

It's a rural community and was even more so when Ellison Onizuka was born there in June 1946, less than a year after the conclusion of World War II.

Hawaii wouldn't become a state for 13 more years, and the Visitors Bureau was just beginning to promote tourism.

As Ellison was growing up, the rhythm of the town rose and fell with the coffee season.

The town's high school even operated on a "coffee schedule," moving summer vacation to August through November so children could help harvest the coffee cherries.

In those fields, lying on his back in the shade of the coffee trees, Ellison first wondered what was beyond the things he could see with the naked eye, what was even higher than the birds flew.

In 1961, when Ellison was a freshman in high school, Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

Ellison didn't get to see it as it happened; it would be decades before Hawaii got same-day television broadcasts.

After graduating from high school in 1964, Ellison came to the mainland to study aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, where he met Lorna.

"He didn't look like a nerd, but I wondered if he was one," she remembered.

"He was president of the student engineering association, but it turned out that he had a wonderful sense of humor."

Lorna and Ellison were married on June 7, 1969, just one day after Ellison graduated from the University of Colorado and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Air Force.

Forty-three days later, on July 20, the Onizukas settled in front of the television to watch one of the defining moments of human history: Neil Armstrong leaving the first footprint on the moon.

It was also Lorna's birthday, and as the couple toasted both events, Ellison couldn't take his eyes off the television replays.

To no one in particular, he said simply, "I'd like to take a shot at that."

Ellison Onizuka's wife Lorna, daughters Janelle and Darien and mother Mitsue accompany him on a goodwill tour following his first mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.

The first time Ellison's younger daughter felt scared about her father's job was at a night viewing in January 1985.

Eight-year-old Darien Onizuka stood on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center and looked up -- way up -- at the 184-foot-tall space shuttle system spotlighted against the darkness.

It was already poised skyward, ready to carry her dad into the cosmos.

Later, she wrote in her diary that it looked so powerful, like a monster all lit up, and that we are very small.

The next morning, Jan. 24, 1985, Ellison sat in Seat 3 on the flight deck aboard the space shuttle Discovery as countdown began.

On the roof of the launch control tower, just over the edge of the designated buffer zone, the Onizuka girls squinted against the Florida sun as 7.8 million pounds of thrust reverberated through the air and right into their chests.

Discovery rose higher and higher until it was just a dot, and they were the same.

On that mission, Ellison became the first Asian-American, the first Japanese-American and the first Hawaiian in space.

Even orbiting 212 miles above Earth, he brought along something that transported him back to his life as a boy in Hawaii: a bag of Kona coffee straight from his hometown.

When Ellison returned, Lorna noticed he was quiet.

She would find him sitting by the fire in a moment of reflection, brought back to earth only by the sound of the kids' happy chatter.

As the girls ran off and the quiet settled in around him, a simple fact kept surfacing: He wanted to go back.

Jan. 28, 1986, was cold in Cape Canaveral.

Just before dawn, the temperature on the launchpad was 22 degrees -- far colder than any previous NASA launch.

The Onizuka girls were in the reception area of the launch control tower, staying warm while the kids colored and the grown-ups visited.

There was much more media coverage than normal.

By then, shuttle launches had become almost routine, but on that day, America was putting its first civilian in space, New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

Classrooms around the country were watching live thanks to a special NASA broadcast feed.

As the count progressed, the astronauts' families were brought up to the roof to watch the launch.

Over on Launchpad 39B, Ellison was again in Seat 3 on the flight deck.

In his locker -- along with a family picture with the governor of Hawaii, a lotus charm for his Buddhist faith, a football from his alma mater, the University of Colorado, and a pennant from his high school -- sat the soccer ball.

The countdown approached zero, the solid rocket boosters ignited and somewhere in the right booster, a 0.280-inch-wide O-ring failed due to the cold.

The failure allowed heated, pressurized propellants to leak out onto the external fuel tank, causing catastrophic structural failure.

Seventy-three seconds into its 10th flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart, killing all seven members of its crew.

On the roof of the launch control tower, the families of the crew desperately searched the twin trails of smoke that twisted skyward for signs of the crew cabin.

They were rushed back inside, purses and cameras left behind.

The last thing Lorna remembers about that day is being brought into a conference room with the other families to be told the crew was lost.

Upon hearing the news, she fainted, hitting the light switch as she slid down the wall.

"At that very moment," Lorna says, "all the lights went out because all the lights did go out in all of us."

The Challenger explosion was the first national tragedy broadcast on live television.

In the days and weeks that followed, life for Lorna, Janelle and Darien was sharply divided into a before and an after.

Television and radio were full of coverage about the Challenger disaster.

For a stunned nation, it quickly became a defining "where were you when" moment.

A personal loss for seven families became a public moment of mourning for American identity of the time, as the explosion rocked confidence in NASA and the shuttle program.

It was the first national tragedy broadcast live on television and the first in-flight loss of astronauts in NASA history.

Then-President Ronald Reagan addressed the country and paid tribute to the seven crew members -- Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe and Ellison Onizuka -- who "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."

There were memorial services, and the fate of future space travel was contemplated.

The Onizukas' mail carrier delivered bundle after bundle of letters from around the world.

The nightly news featured shots of the U.S. Coast Guard pulling pieces of wreckage from the Atlantic -- large, anonymous chunks of metal that didn't resemble the whole.

In total, 14 tons of debris was recovered, the largest salvage operation in Coast Guard history.

What didn't make the news was a small duffel bag that was plucked from the surface of the blue-black water, one of the few items recovered intact.

The months wore on, and life began to take on a new semblance of normal for the Onizukas.

Janelle's sophomore year at Clear Lake wound to a close.

Then, with the investigation into the accident completed, NASA began to notify the families of any recovered personal effects.

Lorna was told about the ball and was asked if she'd like it back.

"I wouldn't have wanted the ball to become a recovered artifact sitting in a locked vault somewhere, archived forever," Lorna says.

"If there was any speak left in these items, El would have wanted it to speak."

What she remembers most about seeing the ball for the first time after the accident is the ink.

So much had happened, so much pain had been felt since each player had held this ball steady and written her name.

How could this blue ink still be so bright?

She cried the tears that make your face burn and your body ache.

She cried for all the complicated things that came with losing her father so publicly and for the memory of him suddenly so alive, taking the ball from her and jogging across the practice field.

She cried as she presented the ball back to Clear Lake High School, displaying it proudly during a ceremony that was supposed to have been led by her father.

For the rest of Janelle's time at Clear Lake, the space shuttle program remained on hiatus.

The ball found a home in a trophy case in the hallway opposite the main office, where thousands of students and their parents -- many a part of the NASA community in one way or another -- passed by it.

They had vowed to continue the mission of the Challenger Seven, to keep the human spirit of exploration alive.

But just as the Onizukas struggled to find their way without Ellison, NASA struggled to regain the confidence of the public.

Lorna Onizuka gave the soccer ball back to Clear Lake High School after it was recovered from the Challenger wreckage.

Clear Lake High School in 2016 wasn't all that different from what it was when Janelle walked its halls in 1986.

There were updates to the building, new technology was on display and children replaced their parents as the student body -- but it was still the place where the astronauts' kids went to school.

In the 30 years since the Onizukas lost Ellison, the soccer ball was dwarfed in its case by newer, bigger trophies as Clear Lake collected accomplishments worthy of display.

The signatures, once so clear and vibrant, faded so badly that they were almost unreadable.

Year by year, it settled deeper into the background of the life that bustled past it.

That is until the Clear Lake High School principal, Karen Engle, got an email from a parent.

He was leaving a booster club meeting and stopped to look at the ball, remembering it from so long ago.

He figured it should have its own display case, and he offered to build it.

There was no way a soccer ball survived that -- and if it had, there was no way it had been sitting in a display case just outside her office.

She walked out into the hallway and looked at it closely through the glass.

There was no plaque or dedication, nothing explaining what it was or all that it had survived.

Maybe the parent was mistaken; maybe it was just an old championship ball.

But as she looked closer, there in faded ink were the words that made her realize what she'd unknowingly walked by since her first day as principal: "Good Luck, Shuttle Crew!"

A few days later, there was a basketball game at Clear Lake.

There to see his twin daughters perform on the dance team was Col. Shane Kimbrough, an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Karen's husband worked closely with Shane at NASA, and they stopped to catch up at the game.

Shane's second mission to the ISS was coming up soon, and he extended an offer: Was there anything at the school that Karen would like him to bring up to space?

When Karen mentioned the ball, Shane knew it was a great idea.

He knew what Lorna had known -- the ball still had so much to say.

After Karen gave it to Shane, she noticed the date: Jan. 28, 2016.

It was exactly 30 years after the Challenger disaster.

Three decades later, Janelle Onizuka and her teammates' signatures can still be seen on the soccer ball.

On Oct. 19, 2016, Expedition 49 launched successfully -- carrying two Russian astronauts, Shane and the soccer ball into low earth orbit, eventually docking aboard the International Space Station.

On earth, Janelle Onizuka's soccer ball weighed 14.5 ounces.

Two hundred and fifty-four miles above Clear Lake, Shane placed the ball into the ISS observatory to take a photo.

It stayed there, suspended against the backdrop of the earth -- finally weightless.

"It was a bit emotional just thinking about where this came from and what had transpired over these many years to get to that point," Shane says.

"I started thinking about their family and what it meant to them, and as a result, took some pictures and sent some down to them."

In its age, the ball is worn and flaked and looks almost tired against the vibrant blue of Earth and the metallic shine inside the ISS.

It looks like a time traveler, a relic from another era, continuing on a mission in place of the Challenger Seven.

"It was a little bit of an old ache that comes back, but at the same time, it's all the feelings that I felt when El flew," Lorna says.

"Happy, gratified, thankful, very thankful that it's finally made its way to where El would have wanted it to go."

The ball spent 173 days in space on board the ISS.

It orbited the earth nearly 3,000 times, passing auroras and constellations, wonders of the ancient world and sprawling cities of the modern.

On April 10, 2017, it returned to Earth, its mission completed.

Shane returned the ball to the Onizuka girls, but Lorna knew it ultimately belonged in the place where its journey began.

In a November ceremony, she dedicated it back to Clear Lake High School, where it once again rests in a display case -- this time all its own -- and is passed by thousands of students per day, including Ellison's grandchildren.

In 1980, Ellison went back to his high school in Kona, Hawaii, to deliver a commencement address.

You may not know it, but you carry some of his words with you in your own earthly exploration, printed in every U.S. passport.

"Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds ... to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.

If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace, then think of the new horizons that you can explore.

... Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried."

Additional reporting by E:60 features producer Max Brodsky

Tonya MalinowskiTonya Malinowski is an Emmy- and Edward R. Murrow-award-winning associate producer for ESPN.

She is based in Charlotte, N.C., and can be reached at Tonya.Malinowski@espn.com.

### Chicago White Sox grounds crew member Nevest Coleman's journey to freedom

Most of the initially considered failure modes were soon ruled out and by May 1, enough of the right solid rocket booster had been recovered to determine the original cause of the accident, and the major salvage operations were concluded. While some shallow-water recovery efforts continued, this was unconnected with the accident investigation; it aimed to recover debris for use in NASA's studies of the properties of materials used in spacecraft and launch vehicles. The recovery operation was able to pull 15 short tons (14 t) of debris from the ocean; this means that 55% of "Challenger", 5% of the crew cabin and 65% of the satellite cargo are still missing. Some of the missing debris continued to wash up on Florida shores for some years, such as on December 17, 1996, nearly 11 years after the incident, when two large pieces of the shuttle were found at Cocoa Beach. Under 18 U.S.C. § 641 it is against the law to be in possession of "Challenger" debris, and any newly discovered pieces must be turned over to NASA.
 On board "Challenger" was an American flag, dubbed the Challenger flag, that was sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 514 of Monument, Colorado. It was recovered intact, still sealed in its plastic container. A soccer ball from the personal effects locker of Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka was also recovered intact from the wreckage, and was later flown to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz Expedition 49 by American astronaut Robert S. Kimbrough.


Clear Lake High School was attended by Onizuka's children.

(meta data) TITLE: NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka's soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion

## On Jan. 28,1986, the space shuttle Challenger stunned the nation when it broke apart 73 seconds into flight.

This is the story of the soccer ball that survived -- and the family that sent it into space, twice.

E:60by Tonya Malinowski Photograph by Shane Kimbrough

The last time Lorna Onizuka spoke to her husband, she mentioned milk.

She and their two daughters, Janelle and Darien, wouldn't be able to have cereal the next morning because she'd left the milk on the porch and it was frozen solid.

The temperature that night in Cape Canaveral, Florida, dropped to 18 degrees, well below the average low of 50.

This would become important later, but for now, it affected only breakfast.

It was late, later than her husband, Ellison, should have been up, but he was restless inside the crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center and wanted to know whether there was news about tomorrow.

Lorna turned on the TV at the house they had rented for the occasion and relayed what she saw: The 10th flight of the space shuttle Challenger was a go.

"I guess we're going to launch tomorrow," Ellison said on the other end of the telephone.

There on Lorna's television, inside the 4.4 million-pound launchpad assembly, inside the space shuttle, inside the crew cabin, inside a locker, inside a black duffel bag, was a soccer ball.

As the Onizuka girls woke up on Jan. 28, 1986, and found something else for breakfast, the ball sat in Ellison's locker on board the shuttle.

As the crew buckled into their seats and countdown progressed, it was just a ball.

Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian-American, the first Japanese-American and the first Hawaiian in space.

Clear Lake High School is perhaps the only place in the country where it's not all that strange to be the child of an astronaut.

Its campus is just 4 miles from Johnson Space Center in Houston, and many of the Falcons have at least one parent whose paycheck comes from NASA.

In January 1986, "Rocky IV" was in theaters, gas was 93 cents per gallon and Janelle Onizuka was sitting through her sophomore classes at Clear Lake, waiting to get to soccer practice.

All week, the team had been passing around a ball to sign.

It was just a practice ball, a little scuffed up and not the best brand.

By all accounts it was unremarkable, except for one very remarkable fact: Janelle's dad, Ellison, was going to take it into space.

Ellison and Lorna were big fans of the Lady Falcons.

El was an assistant coach for the team, though his former players said it was hard to take him seriously when he assigned drills.

Sternness just didn't suit him, especially when he was trying to avoid cracking a smile.

With Ellison's quick wit and Lorna's sweet demeanor, the two became fast friends with the other parents and coaches.

If he was on earth, Ellison tried his best to never miss a game.

"He was supposed to be in quarantine, and he would sneak out just to see a little bit of the game," Lorna says.

"None of us would know until we'd see him at the corner of the fence.

The mid-January evening that Ellison came to pick up the ball was one of those nights he was supposed to be in quarantine.

Janelle hadn't seen him for weeks; the astronauts were kept isolated before missions to avoid getting sick.

But there he was, jogging across the practice field, and suddenly the whole evening buzzed with the electric feeling of being part of something special as a kid -- literally, in this case, part of something far beyond your own small world.

The players on the team presented Ellison with the ball, looking one last time at all their names and "Good Luck, Shuttle Crew!" written in careful strokes, knowing it was a way for each of them to be a part of the great human achievement of the time -- a way to touch the heavens.

Janelle said goodbye to her dad and watched as he jogged back across the field with the ball in his hands, jumping, carefree, across a little ditch.

"I'll always remember this night," Janelle later wrote.

"I can still smell the grass on the practice field.

It is quite literally my last fond memory of my dad face-to-face."

Kealakekua, Hawaii, sits on the western side of the Big Island.

It's a rural community and was even more so when Ellison Onizuka was born there in June 1946, less than a year after the conclusion of World War II.

Hawaii wouldn't become a state for 13 more years, and the Visitors Bureau was just beginning to promote tourism.

As Ellison was growing up, the rhythm of the town rose and fell with the coffee season.

The town's high school even operated on a "coffee schedule," moving summer vacation to August through November so children could help harvest the coffee cherries.

In those fields, lying on his back in the shade of the coffee trees, Ellison first wondered what was beyond the things he could see with the naked eye, what was even higher than the birds flew.

In 1961, when Ellison was a freshman in high school, Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

Ellison didn't get to see it as it happened; it would be decades before Hawaii got same-day television broadcasts.

After graduating from high school in 1964, Ellison came to the mainland to study aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado, where he met Lorna.

"He didn't look like a nerd, but I wondered if he was one," she remembered.

"He was president of the student engineering association, but it turned out that he had a wonderful sense of humor."

Lorna and Ellison were married on June 7, 1969, just one day after Ellison graduated from the University of Colorado and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Air Force.

Forty-three days later, on July 20, the Onizukas settled in front of the television to watch one of the defining moments of human history: Neil Armstrong leaving the first footprint on the moon.

It was also Lorna's birthday, and as the couple toasted both events, Ellison couldn't take his eyes off the television replays.

To no one in particular, he said simply, "I'd like to take a shot at that."

Ellison Onizuka's wife Lorna, daughters Janelle and Darien and mother Mitsue accompany him on a goodwill tour following his first mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.

The first time Ellison's younger daughter felt scared about her father's job was at a night viewing in January 1985.

Eight-year-old Darien Onizuka stood on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center and looked up -- way up -- at the 184-foot-tall space shuttle system spotlighted against the darkness.

It was already poised skyward, ready to carry her dad into the cosmos.

Later, she wrote in her diary that it looked so powerful, like a monster all lit up, and that we are very small.

The next morning, Jan. 24, 1985, Ellison sat in Seat 3 on the flight deck aboard the space shuttle Discovery as countdown began.

On the roof of the launch control tower, just over the edge of the designated buffer zone, the Onizuka girls squinted against the Florida sun as 7.8 million pounds of thrust reverberated through the air and right into their chests.

Discovery rose higher and higher until it was just a dot, and they were the same.

On that mission, Ellison became the first Asian-American, the first Japanese-American and the first Hawaiian in space.

Even orbiting 212 miles above Earth, he brought along something that transported him back to his life as a boy in Hawaii: a bag of Kona coffee straight from his hometown.

When Ellison returned, Lorna noticed he was quiet.

She would find him sitting by the fire in a moment of reflection, brought back to earth only by the sound of the kids' happy chatter.

As the girls ran off and the quiet settled in around him, a simple fact kept surfacing: He wanted to go back.

Jan. 28, 1986, was cold in Cape Canaveral.

Just before dawn, the temperature on the launchpad was 22 degrees -- far colder than any previous NASA launch.

The Onizuka girls were in the reception area of the launch control tower, staying warm while the kids colored and the grown-ups visited.

There was much more media coverage than normal.

By then, shuttle launches had become almost routine, but on that day, America was putting its first civilian in space, New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

Classrooms around the country were watching live thanks to a special NASA broadcast feed.

As the count progressed, the astronauts' families were brought up to the roof to watch the launch.

Over on Launchpad 39B, Ellison was again in Seat 3 on the flight deck.

In his locker -- along with a family picture with the governor of Hawaii, a lotus charm for his Buddhist faith, a football from his alma mater, the University of Colorado, and a pennant from his high school -- sat the soccer ball.

The countdown approached zero, the solid rocket boosters ignited and somewhere in the right booster, a 0.280-inch-wide O-ring failed due to the cold.

The failure allowed heated, pressurized propellants to leak out onto the external fuel tank, causing catastrophic structural failure.

Seventy-three seconds into its 10th flight, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart, killing all seven members of its crew.

On the roof of the launch control tower, the families of the crew desperately searched the twin trails of smoke that twisted skyward for signs of the crew cabin.

They were rushed back inside, purses and cameras left behind.

The last thing Lorna remembers about that day is being brought into a conference room with the other families to be told the crew was lost.

Upon hearing the news, she fainted, hitting the light switch as she slid down the wall.

"At that very moment," Lorna says, "all the lights went out because all the lights did go out in all of us."

The Challenger explosion was the first national tragedy broadcast on live television.

In the days and weeks that followed, life for Lorna, Janelle and Darien was sharply divided into a before and an after.

Television and radio were full of coverage about the Challenger disaster.

For a stunned nation, it quickly became a defining "where were you when" moment.

A personal loss for seven families became a public moment of mourning for American identity of the time, as the explosion rocked confidence in NASA and the shuttle program.

It was the first national tragedy broadcast live on television and the first in-flight loss of astronauts in NASA history.

Then-President Ronald Reagan addressed the country and paid tribute to the seven crew members -- Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe and Ellison Onizuka -- who "slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God."

There were memorial services, and the fate of future space travel was contemplated.

The Onizukas' mail carrier delivered bundle after bundle of letters from around the world.

The nightly news featured shots of the U.S. Coast Guard pulling pieces of wreckage from the Atlantic -- large, anonymous chunks of metal that didn't resemble the whole.

In total, 14 tons of debris was recovered, the largest salvage operation in Coast Guard history.

What didn't make the news was a small duffel bag that was plucked from the surface of the blue-black water, one of the few items recovered intact.

The months wore on, and life began to take on a new semblance of normal for the Onizukas.

Janelle's sophomore year at Clear Lake wound to a close.

Then, with the investigation into the accident completed, NASA began to notify the families of any recovered personal effects.

Lorna was told about the ball and was asked if she'd like it back.

"I wouldn't have wanted the ball to become a recovered artifact sitting in a locked vault somewhere, archived forever," Lorna says.

"If there was any speak left in these items, El would have wanted it to speak."

What she remembers most about seeing the ball for the first time after the accident is the ink.

So much had happened, so much pain had been felt since each player had held this ball steady and written her name.

How could this blue ink still be so bright?

She cried the tears that make your face burn and your body ache.

She cried for all the complicated things that came with losing her father so publicly and for the memory of him suddenly so alive, taking the ball from her and jogging across the practice field.

She cried as she presented the ball back to Clear Lake High School, displaying it proudly during a ceremony that was supposed to have been led by her father.

For the rest of Janelle's time at Clear Lake, the space shuttle program remained on hiatus.

The ball found a home in a trophy case in the hallway opposite the main office, where thousands of students and their parents -- many a part of the NASA community in one way or another -- passed by it.

They had vowed to continue the mission of the Challenger Seven, to keep the human spirit of exploration alive.

But just as the Onizukas struggled to find their way without Ellison, NASA struggled to regain the confidence of the public.

Lorna Onizuka gave the soccer ball back to Clear Lake High School after it was recovered from the Challenger wreckage.

Clear Lake High School in 2016 wasn't all that different from what it was when Janelle walked its halls in 1986.

There were updates to the building, new technology was on display and children replaced their parents as the student body -- but it was still the place where the astronauts' kids went to school.

In the 30 years since the Onizukas lost Ellison, the soccer ball was dwarfed in its case by newer, bigger trophies as Clear Lake collected accomplishments worthy of display.

The signatures, once so clear and vibrant, faded so badly that they were almost unreadable.

Year by year, it settled deeper into the background of the life that bustled past it.

That is until the Clear Lake High School principal, Karen Engle, got an email from a parent.

He was leaving a booster club meeting and stopped to look at the ball, remembering it from so long ago.

He figured it should have its own display case, and he offered to build it.

There was no way a soccer ball survived that -- and if it had, there was no way it had been sitting in a display case just outside her office.

She walked out into the hallway and looked at it closely through the glass.

There was no plaque or dedication, nothing explaining what it was or all that it had survived.

Maybe the parent was mistaken; maybe it was just an old championship ball.

But as she looked closer, there in faded ink were the words that made her realize what she'd unknowingly walked by since her first day as principal: "Good Luck, Shuttle Crew!"

A few days later, there was a basketball game at Clear Lake.

There to see his twin daughters perform on the dance team was Col. Shane Kimbrough, an astronaut on the International Space Station.

Karen's husband worked closely with Shane at NASA, and they stopped to catch up at the game.

Shane's second mission to the ISS was coming up soon, and he extended an offer: Was there anything at the school that Karen would like him to bring up to space?

When Karen mentioned the ball, Shane knew it was a great idea.

He knew what Lorna had known -- the ball still had so much to say.

After Karen gave it to Shane, she noticed the date: Jan. 28, 2016.

It was exactly 30 years after the Challenger disaster.

Three decades later, Janelle Onizuka and her teammates' signatures can still be seen on the soccer ball.

On Oct. 19, 2016, Expedition 49 launched successfully -- carrying two Russian astronauts, Shane and the soccer ball into low earth orbit, eventually docking aboard the International Space Station.

On earth, Janelle Onizuka's soccer ball weighed 14.5 ounces.

Two hundred and fifty-four miles above Clear Lake, Shane placed the ball into the ISS observatory to take a photo.

It stayed there, suspended against the backdrop of the earth -- finally weightless.

"It was a bit emotional just thinking about where this came from and what had transpired over these many years to get to that point," Shane says.

"I started thinking about their family and what it meant to them, and as a result, took some pictures and sent some down to them."

In its age, the ball is worn and flaked and looks almost tired against the vibrant blue of Earth and the metallic shine inside the ISS.

It looks like a time traveler, a relic from another era, continuing on a mission in place of the Challenger Seven.

"It was a little bit of an old ache that comes back, but at the same time, it's all the feelings that I felt when El flew," Lorna says.

"Happy, gratified, thankful, very thankful that it's finally made its way to where El would have wanted it to go."

The ball spent 173 days in space on board the ISS.

It orbited the earth nearly 3,000 times, passing auroras and constellations, wonders of the ancient world and sprawling cities of the modern.

On April 10, 2017, it returned to Earth, its mission completed.

Shane returned the ball to the Onizuka girls, but Lorna knew it ultimately belonged in the place where its journey began.

In a November ceremony, she dedicated it back to Clear Lake High School, where it once again rests in a display case -- this time all its own -- and is passed by thousands of students per day, including Ellison's grandchildren.

In 1980, Ellison went back to his high school in Kona, Hawaii, to deliver a commencement address.

You may not know it, but you carry some of his words with you in your own earthly exploration, printed in every U.S. passport.

"Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds ... to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.

If you accept these past accomplishments as commonplace, then think of the new horizons that you can explore.

... Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried."

Additional reporting by E:60 features producer Max Brodsky

Tonya MalinowskiTonya Malinowski is an Emmy- and Edward R. Murrow-award-winning associate producer for ESPN.

She is based in Charlotte, N.C., and can be reached at Tonya.Malinowski@espn.com.

### Chicago White Sox grounds crew member Nevest Coleman's journey to freedom

Most of the initially considered failure modes were soon ruled out and by May 1, enough of the right solid rocket booster had been recovered to determine the original cause of the accident, and the major salvage operations were concluded. While some shallow-water recovery efforts continued, this was unconnected with the accident investigation; it aimed to recover debris for use in NASA's studies of the properties of materials used in spacecraft and launch vehicles. The recovery operation was able to pull 15 short tons (14 t) of debris from the ocean; this means that 55% of "Challenger", 5% of the crew cabin and 65% of the satellite cargo are still missing. Some of the missing debris continued to wash up on Florida shores for some years, such as on December 17, 1996, nearly 11 years after the incident, when two large pieces of the shuttle were found at Cocoa Beach. Under 18 U.S.C. § 641 it is against the law to be in possession of "Challenger" debris, and any newly discovered pieces must be turned over to NASA.
 On board "Challenger" was an American flag, dubbed the Challenger flag, that was sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 514 of Monument, Colorado. It was recovered intact, still sealed in its plastic container. A soccer ball from the personal effects locker of Mission Specialist Ellison Onizuka was also recovered intact from the wreckage, and was later flown to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz Expedition 49 by American astronaut Robert S. Kimbrough. It is currently on display at Clear Lake High School in Houston.


In 1641, Pym was elected Member of Parliament for Bere Alston.

(meta data) TITLE: PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som. | History of Parliament Online

Home Research > Members > 1660-1690 > PYM, Charles (c.1615-71)

# PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983Available from Boydell and Brewer

1660-1690 Members 1660-1690 Constituencies 1660-1690 Parliaments 1660-1690 Surveys

b. c.1615, 2nd s. of John Pym† of Brymore and Holborn, Mdx.

by Anne, da. of John Hooke of Bramshott, Hants. educ. St. Catherine's, Camb. 1632; L. Inn 1635, called 1644. m. lic. 24 Feb. 1663, 'aged 35', Katherine, da. of Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Bt. of Flambards, Mdx., 1s. 1da. suc. bro. 1661; kntd. 14 Feb. 1663; cr. Bt. 14 July 1663.2

Capt. of dgns. (parliamentary) 1642-5; commr. for militia, Som. and Westminster, Mar. 1660, sewers Som. and Westminster Aug. 1660, assessment, Som. 1661-9.3

Pym came from a Somerset family which had resided on their small estate with complete lack of distinction from the reign of Edward I until his father became a minor Exchequer official and the famous opposition leader of the early Stuart Parliaments.

Pym seems to have been of a more sociable and active temper than his elder brother, and perhaps more discreet in sowing his wild oats, though both served in the parliamentary army during the Civil War.

After Pride's Purge, he went to the West Indies, and acted as one of the commissioners for the surrender of Barbados by Lord Willoughby of Parham to the Commonwealth fleet in 1652.

There is no evidence that he practised as a barrister on his return to England; probably his West Indian interests provided a sufficient income for a bachelor.

Pym remained a member of Willoughby's presbyterian-royalist circle; in November 1659 he and his friend Robert Harley I transmitted an offer from Henry Cromwell to use his interest in Ireland on behalf of the King.

He was pardoned shortly before the Restoration.4

Pym was elected to the Convention both at Bossiney, presumably on the interest of Lord Robartes, and at Minehead, but chose to sit for the latter with his niece's husband, Francis Luttrell I.

Marked as a friend by Lord Wharton, he was named to only three committees, but was probably fairly constant in attendance, living as he did close at hand 'at the next house to the north door of the Abbey'.

He was appointed to the committee of elections and privileges when the Convention met, and on 3 July 1660 he was added to the committee considering the moneys due to Willoughby among others.

He was in his place when the House met after the adjournment, though without any great hope, as he wrote, of a satisfactory religious settlement.

He was named to the committee for the militia bill.

He supported two west-country Puritans, Thomas Bampfield and Sir John Northcote in resisting the restoration of the dukedom of Norfolk.5

In 1661 Pym's seat at Minehead was required for his Cavalier kinsman Sir Hugh Wyndham, and he does not appear to have stood elsewhere.

After succeeding to the Brymore estate he married the sister of his colleague at Bossiney in 1660, understating his age on the marriage licence by at least a decade, and was created a baronet.

He apparently remained a Presbyterian and was never appointed to the commission of the peace.

His will, dated 8 Mar. 1671, was proved on the following 8 Jan.

His only son, the last of the family, was killed in a tavern brawl in 1688, and Brymore passed to his daughter and her husband, Sir Thomas Hales.6

### Authors: M. W. Helms / Irene Cassidy

1. Did not sit after Pride's Purge 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.

2. Genealogical Magazine, ii. 363-4; St. Margaret Westminster (Harl. Soc. Reg. lxiv) 194.

3. P. Young, Edgehill, 306; E. F. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Drake, i. 334; C181/7/38.

4. Collinson, Som. i. 233; Keeler, Long Parl. 317-18; Genealogical Magazine, ii. 477; Eliott-Drake, i. 334, 392; Mordaunt Letter Bk. (Cam. Soc. ser. 3, lxix), 96; Cal. Cl. SP, iv. 602.

5. BL Loan 29/85, Pym to Harley, 9 Nov. 1660; HMC 5th Rep. 196.

6. London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1104; PCC 6 Eure

Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet (c. 1615 – 1671) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons  from 1641 to 1648 and in 1660. He served in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
 Pym was the son of John Pym and his wife Anna Hooker or Hooke.


(meta data) TITLE: PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som. | History of Parliament Online

Home Research > Members > 1660-1690 > PYM, Charles (c.1615-71)

# PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983Available from Boydell and Brewer

1660-1690 Members 1660-1690 Constituencies 1660-1690 Parliaments 1660-1690 Surveys

b. c.1615, 2nd s. of John Pym† of Brymore and Holborn, Mdx.

by Anne, da. of John Hooke of Bramshott, Hants. educ. St. Catherine's, Camb. 1632; L. Inn 1635, called 1644. m. lic. 24 Feb. 1663, 'aged 35', Katherine, da. of Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Bt. of Flambards, Mdx., 1s. 1da. suc. bro. 1661; kntd. 14 Feb. 1663; cr. Bt. 14 July 1663.2

Capt. of dgns. (parliamentary) 1642-5; commr. for militia, Som. and Westminster, Mar. 1660, sewers Som. and Westminster Aug. 1660, assessment, Som. 1661-9.3

Pym came from a Somerset family which had resided on their small estate with complete lack of distinction from the reign of Edward I until his father became a minor Exchequer official and the famous opposition leader of the early Stuart Parliaments.

Pym seems to have been of a more sociable and active temper than his elder brother, and perhaps more discreet in sowing his wild oats, though both served in the parliamentary army during the Civil War.

After Pride's Purge, he went to the West Indies, and acted as one of the commissioners for the surrender of Barbados by Lord Willoughby of Parham to the Commonwealth fleet in 1652.

There is no evidence that he practised as a barrister on his return to England; probably his West Indian interests provided a sufficient income for a bachelor.

Pym remained a member of Willoughby's presbyterian-royalist circle; in November 1659 he and his friend Robert Harley I transmitted an offer from Henry Cromwell to use his interest in Ireland on behalf of the King.

He was pardoned shortly before the Restoration.4

Pym was elected to the Convention both at Bossiney, presumably on the interest of Lord Robartes, and at Minehead, but chose to sit for the latter with his niece's husband, Francis Luttrell I.

Marked as a friend by Lord Wharton, he was named to only three committees, but was probably fairly constant in attendance, living as he did close at hand 'at the next house to the north door of the Abbey'.

He was appointed to the committee of elections and privileges when the Convention met, and on 3 July 1660 he was added to the committee considering the moneys due to Willoughby among others.

He was in his place when the House met after the adjournment, though without any great hope, as he wrote, of a satisfactory religious settlement.

He was named to the committee for the militia bill.

He supported two west-country Puritans, Thomas Bampfield and Sir John Northcote in resisting the restoration of the dukedom of Norfolk.5

In 1661 Pym's seat at Minehead was required for his Cavalier kinsman Sir Hugh Wyndham, and he does not appear to have stood elsewhere.

After succeeding to the Brymore estate he married the sister of his colleague at Bossiney in 1660, understating his age on the marriage licence by at least a decade, and was created a baronet.

He apparently remained a Presbyterian and was never appointed to the commission of the peace.

His will, dated 8 Mar. 1671, was proved on the following 8 Jan.

His only son, the last of the family, was killed in a tavern brawl in 1688, and Brymore passed to his daughter and her husband, Sir Thomas Hales.6

### Authors: M. W. Helms / Irene Cassidy

1. Did not sit after Pride's Purge 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.

2. Genealogical Magazine, ii. 363-4; St. Margaret Westminster (Harl. Soc. Reg. lxiv) 194.

3. P. Young, Edgehill, 306; E. F. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Drake, i. 334; C181/7/38.

4. Collinson, Som. i. 233; Keeler, Long Parl. 317-18; Genealogical Magazine, ii. 477; Eliott-Drake, i. 334, 392; Mordaunt Letter Bk. (Cam. Soc. ser. 3, lxix), 96; Cal. Cl. SP, iv. 602.

5. BL Loan 29/85, Pym to Harley, 9 Nov. 1660; HMC 5th Rep. 196.

6. London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1104; PCC 6 Eure

Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet (c. 1615 – 1671) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons  from 1641 to 1648 and in 1660. He served in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
 Pym was the son of John Pym and his wife Anna Hooker or Hooke. In 1641, Pym was elected Member of Parliament for Bere Alston.


Pym was elected after the previous member was expelled.

(meta data) TITLE: PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som. | History of Parliament Online

Home Research > Members > 1660-1690 > PYM, Charles (c.1615-71)

# PYM, Charles (c.1615-71), of Broad Sanctuary, Westminster and Brymore, Som.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983Available from Boydell and Brewer

1660-1690 Members 1660-1690 Constituencies 1660-1690 Parliaments 1660-1690 Surveys

b. c.1615, 2nd s. of John Pym† of Brymore and Holborn, Mdx.

by Anne, da. of John Hooke of Bramshott, Hants. educ. St. Catherine's, Camb. 1632; L. Inn 1635, called 1644. m. lic. 24 Feb. 1663, 'aged 35', Katherine, da. of Sir Gilbert Gerard, 1st Bt. of Flambards, Mdx., 1s. 1da. suc. bro. 1661; kntd. 14 Feb. 1663; cr. Bt. 14 July 1663.2

Capt. of dgns. (parliamentary) 1642-5; commr. for militia, Som. and Westminster, Mar. 1660, sewers Som. and Westminster Aug. 1660, assessment, Som. 1661-9.3

Pym came from a Somerset family which had resided on their small estate with complete lack of distinction from the reign of Edward I until his father became a minor Exchequer official and the famous opposition leader of the early Stuart Parliaments.

Pym seems to have been of a more sociable and active temper than his elder brother, and perhaps more discreet in sowing his wild oats, though both served in the parliamentary army during the Civil War.

After Pride's Purge, he went to the West Indies, and acted as one of the commissioners for the surrender of Barbados by Lord Willoughby of Parham to the Commonwealth fleet in 1652.

There is no evidence that he practised as a barrister on his return to England; probably his West Indian interests provided a sufficient income for a bachelor.

Pym remained a member of Willoughby's presbyterian-royalist circle; in November 1659 he and his friend Robert Harley I transmitted an offer from Henry Cromwell to use his interest in Ireland on behalf of the King.

He was pardoned shortly before the Restoration.4

Pym was elected to the Convention both at Bossiney, presumably on the interest of Lord Robartes, and at Minehead, but chose to sit for the latter with his niece's husband, Francis Luttrell I.

Marked as a friend by Lord Wharton, he was named to only three committees, but was probably fairly constant in attendance, living as he did close at hand 'at the next house to the north door of the Abbey'.

He was appointed to the committee of elections and privileges when the Convention met, and on 3 July 1660 he was added to the committee considering the moneys due to Willoughby among others.

He was in his place when the House met after the adjournment, though without any great hope, as he wrote, of a satisfactory religious settlement.

He was named to the committee for the militia bill.

He supported two west-country Puritans, Thomas Bampfield and Sir John Northcote in resisting the restoration of the dukedom of Norfolk.5

In 1661 Pym's seat at Minehead was required for his Cavalier kinsman Sir Hugh Wyndham, and he does not appear to have stood elsewhere.

After succeeding to the Brymore estate he married the sister of his colleague at Bossiney in 1660, understating his age on the marriage licence by at least a decade, and was created a baronet.

He apparently remained a Presbyterian and was never appointed to the commission of the peace.

His will, dated 8 Mar. 1671, was proved on the following 8 Jan.

His only son, the last of the family, was killed in a tavern brawl in 1688, and Brymore passed to his daughter and her husband, Sir Thomas Hales.6

### Authors: M. W. Helms / Irene Cassidy

1. Did not sit after Pride's Purge 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.

2. Genealogical Magazine, ii. 363-4; St. Margaret Westminster (Harl. Soc. Reg. lxiv) 194.

3. P. Young, Edgehill, 306; E. F. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Drake, i. 334; C181/7/38.

4. Collinson, Som. i. 233; Keeler, Long Parl. 317-18; Genealogical Magazine, ii. 477; Eliott-Drake, i. 334, 392; Mordaunt Letter Bk. (Cam. Soc. ser. 3, lxix), 96; Cal. Cl. SP, iv. 602.

5. BL Loan 29/85, Pym to Harley, 9 Nov. 1660; HMC 5th Rep. 196.

6. London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1104; PCC 6 Eure

Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet (c. 1615 – 1671) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons  from 1641 to 1648 and in 1660. He served in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
 Pym was the son of John Pym and his wife Anna Hooker or Hooke. In 1641, Pym was elected Member of Parliament for Bere Alston. Pym was elected in the Long Parliament.


Surah Ya Sin (the 'Heart of the Quran') is inscribed across the top of the tile work.

(meta data) TITLE: The Dome of the Rock | Islamic Landmarks

(meta data) PUBLISHER: https://www.facebook.com/islamiclandmarks

HomePalestine: Masjid al-AqsaThe Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock (Qubbatus Saqqara) is often mistakenly referred to as the al-Aqsa mosque but is actually part of Masjid al-Aqsa.

This structure was built by Caliph Abd al-Malik from 688 to 691 CE and houses the sacred rock from which it is said the Prophet Muhammed (ﷺ) ascended to heaven (Mi'raj) after the night journey to Jerusalem (Isra').

The octagon shaped building was the cutting edge of design at the time, built on a marble base with the remainder being made out of wood rather than stone.

Four of the eight sides have doors and there are seven windows on each side.

The dome itself is 25 meters high and covered with gold.

The interior is decorated with mosaic, marble and verses from the Quran.

The architecture is regarded as a masterpiece due to the mathematical rhythm of its proportions.

For example, each of the outer walls is 67 feet long, which is exactly the same as the dome's diameter and which is also the height from the base to the drum.

Aerial view of the Dome of the Rock – Photo: Getty Images

When the Crusaders took over Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock mosque was re

-named Templum Domini and had a cross placed on top of the golden dome.

The rock inside was covered to make an altar and the Quranic inscriptions were covered with Latin texts.

This kingdom was to last 87 years, during which time neither Jew nor Muslim was allowed to dwell within the walls of the city.

Close up detail of the Dome of the Rock – Photo: benedikternstmg (Instagram)

Ibn Kathir (Allah show mercy on him) writes in his book Kamil at-Tawarikh (The Perfect History) of the scene when the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders: "…At the top of the cupola of the Dome of the Rock there was a great gilded cross.

When the Muslims entered the city on the Friday, some of them climbed the top of the cupola to take down the cross……a great cry went up from the city and from outside the walls, the Muslims crying 'Allahu-akbar' in their joy, the Franks groaning in consternation and grief.

So loud and piercing was the cry that the earth shook. …

Salahuddin ordered that the shrines should be restored to their original state.

The Templars had built their living quarters against al-Aqsa, with storerooms and latrines…

This was all restored to its former state.

The Sultan ordered that the Dome of the Rock should be cleansed of all pollution, and this was done…".

Interior of the Dome of the Rock – Photo:Y.Isap

The beautiful external tile work which can be seen today was commissioned by Sulayman II Qanuni (the Lawgiver), known throughout Europe as Sulayman the Magnificent.

With the incomparable skills of Persian master ceramicists, 40,000 tiles were fired and put into place, crowned by the inscription of Surah Yasin, the 36th chapter and regarded as the heart of the Quran.

Inside the Dome, the major Quranic inscription over the arches of the inner arcade is addressed to the "Followers of the Gospel", i.e. Christians, denying the shocking notion that God had sired a son.

It warns them against inaccurate and dangerous statements about God (in Surah An-Nisa):"O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth.

The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him.

So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" – Cease! (it is) better for you! – Allah is only One God.

Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son.

His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth.

great golden dome that crowns the Dome of the Rock was originally made of gold, but was replaced with copper and then aluminum.

The aluminum is now covered with gold leaf, a donation from the late King Hussein of Jordan.

The dome is topped by a full moon decoration which is aligned so that if you could look through it, you would be looking straight towards Makkah.

Jews and Christians believe this is the place where the Prophet Ebrahim (upon him be peace) was prepared to sacrifice his son Ishaq (upon him be peace) after seeing a dream indicating for him to do so.

This is a fundamental difference to the Muslim belief that it was actually his elder son Ismail (upon him be peace) who he was prepared to sacrifice and that this happened in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

Orthodox Jews believe the Dome of the Rock to be the centre of the world.

References: Palestine: Beginner's guide – Ismail Adam Patel, Al-Quds – Mohammed Abdul Hameed Al-Khateeb, The Crusades – Christine Hatt, HUMA'S travel guide to Palestine

## The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque)


Surah Ya Sin (the 'Heart of the Quran') was commissioned in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent.

(meta data) TITLE: The Dome of the Rock | Islamic Landmarks

(meta data) PUBLISHER: https://www.facebook.com/islamiclandmarks

HomePalestine: Masjid al-AqsaThe Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock (Qubbatus Saqqara) is often mistakenly referred to as the al-Aqsa mosque but is actually part of Masjid al-Aqsa.

This structure was built by Caliph Abd al-Malik from 688 to 691 CE and houses the sacred rock from which it is said the Prophet Muhammed (ﷺ) ascended to heaven (Mi'raj) after the night journey to Jerusalem (Isra').

The octagon shaped building was the cutting edge of design at the time, built on a marble base with the remainder being made out of wood rather than stone.

Four of the eight sides have doors and there are seven windows on each side.

The dome itself is 25 meters high and covered with gold.

The interior is decorated with mosaic, marble and verses from the Quran.

The architecture is regarded as a masterpiece due to the mathematical rhythm of its proportions.

For example, each of the outer walls is 67 feet long, which is exactly the same as the dome's diameter and which is also the height from the base to the drum.

Aerial view of the Dome of the Rock – Photo: Getty Images

When the Crusaders took over Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock mosque was re

-named Templum Domini and had a cross placed on top of the golden dome.

The rock inside was covered to make an altar and the Quranic inscriptions were covered with Latin texts.

This kingdom was to last 87 years, during which time neither Jew nor Muslim was allowed to dwell within the walls of the city.

Close up detail of the Dome of the Rock – Photo: benedikternstmg (Instagram)

Ibn Kathir (Allah show mercy on him) writes in his book Kamil at-Tawarikh (The Perfect History) of the scene when the Muslims recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders: "…At the top of the cupola of the Dome of the Rock there was a great gilded cross.

When the Muslims entered the city on the Friday, some of them climbed the top of the cupola to take down the cross……a great cry went up from the city and from outside the walls, the Muslims crying 'Allahu-akbar' in their joy, the Franks groaning in consternation and grief.

So loud and piercing was the cry that the earth shook. …

Salahuddin ordered that the shrines should be restored to their original state.

The Templars had built their living quarters against al-Aqsa, with storerooms and latrines…

This was all restored to its former state.

The Sultan ordered that the Dome of the Rock should be cleansed of all pollution, and this was done…".

Interior of the Dome of the Rock – Photo:Y.Isap

The beautiful external tile work which can be seen today was commissioned by Sulayman II Qanuni (the Lawgiver), known throughout Europe as Sulayman the Magnificent.

With the incomparable skills of Persian master ceramicists, 40,000 tiles were fired and put into place, crowned by the inscription of Surah Yasin, the 36th chapter and regarded as the heart of the Quran.

Inside the Dome, the major Quranic inscription over the arches of the inner arcade is addressed to the "Followers of the Gospel", i.e. Christians, denying the shocking notion that God had sired a son.

It warns them against inaccurate and dangerous statements about God (in Surah An-Nisa):"O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth.

The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a Messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him.

So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" – Cease! (it is) better for you! – Allah is only One God.

Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son.

His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth.

great golden dome that crowns the Dome of the Rock was originally made of gold, but was replaced with copper and then aluminum.

The aluminum is now covered with gold leaf, a donation from the late King Hussein of Jordan.

The dome is topped by a full moon decoration which is aligned so that if you could look through it, you would be looking straight towards Makkah.

Jews and Christians believe this is the place where the Prophet Ebrahim (upon him be peace) was prepared to sacrifice his son Ishaq (upon him be peace) after seeing a dream indicating for him to do so.

This is a fundamental difference to the Muslim belief that it was actually his elder son Ismail (upon him be peace) who he was prepared to sacrifice and that this happened in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

Orthodox Jews believe the Dome of the Rock to be the centre of the world.

References: Palestine: Beginner's guide – Ismail Adam Patel, Al-Quds – Mohammed Abdul Hameed Al-Khateeb, The Crusades – Christine Hatt, HUMA'S travel guide to Palestine

## The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Mosque)

Surah Ya Sin (the 'Heart of the Quran') is inscribed across the top of the tile work.


(meta data) TITLE: Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep | NHL.com

##### Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep

## Lehner makes 25 saves; Eberle scores for third consecutive game

#### NYI@PIT, Gm3: Eberle snipes wrister from tough angle

Jordan Eberle receives a pass from Ryan Pulock on the doorstep and fires a sharp-angle shot past Matt Murray to tie the game at 1

The New York Islanders moved within one victory of eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Robin Lehner made 25 saves for New York, which leads the best-of-7 series 3-0 and can complete its first series sweep since defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final by winning Game 4 here on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+).

"This group, we've talked about just worrying about one game," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

"You just want to compete so you can continue to play.

[WATCH: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 3 highlights | Complete series coverage]

Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored 1:02 apart in the first period for the Islanders after Garrett Wilson had given the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Leo Komarov scored midway through the third period, and Anders Lee scored into an empty net for New York, which has outscored Pittsburgh 11-5 through three games.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Lehner alertly stands tall to deny Pens

Matt Murray made 32 saves for Pittsburgh, which last lost the first three games of a series in 2013, when it was swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has been held without a point in the first three games.

"You've got to find ways to score goals this time of year," Crosby said.

"It's not easy, but you have to find a way to do it.

Obviously, we haven't done a good enough job of that these first three games."

Wilson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead by deflecting a shot from Marcus Pettersson past Lehner at 12:54 of the first period.

He took a pass from Ryan Pulock just above the goal line to the left of the net, and his wrist shot hit Murray's shoulder and went into the top corner at 13:22 to make it 1-1.

Eberle has scored a goal in each of the first three games.

Nelson put the Islanders ahead 2-1 at 14:24, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush by taking a snap shot that beat Murray to the blocker side for his second goal of the playoffs.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Nelson buries wrister on odd-man rush

"Another good response by us," Nelson said.

"There's been lots of talking from the coaching staff and the players of just sticking with it, staying even.

Not getting too high or too low, especially now.

In the playoffs, there's a lot of emotion and high intensity.

So great job by us and good job in the second and third period of keeping it going."

Komarov made it 3-1 at 10:27 of the third period after Anthony Beauvillier tipped a pass from Valtteri Filppula to him in the right face-off circle.

He scored on a wrist shot past Murray's glove for the first playoff goal of his NHL career.

Lee made it 4-1 by scoring into an empty net with 1:28 remaining.

They're going to have their spurts in the game where they come hard and they're going to create.

We're just doing a really good job right now of staying tight and helping each other out with rebounds and loose pucks."

"In the first period, we get a big goal at the end of our power play.

They were able to come back and answer it in a fairly short time frame.

It seems like, in each game at this point, that's occurred.

We have to do a better job of hanging onto the momentum when we get it."

Teams that lead a best-of-7 NHL playoff series 3-0 have a series record of 186-4. ...

The goals by Eberle and Nelson were the fastest pair of playoff goals scored by the Islanders since Kip Miller and Mariusz Czerkawski scored 38 seconds apart in Game 6 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

... Eberle is the second player in Islanders history to score in each of his first three playoff games with New York; Ray Ferraro did it in 1993.

Penguins forward Jared McCann returned after missing Game 2 with an upper-body injury.

He had two shots and five hits in 14:23. ...

Murray has lost his past five starts in the playoffs, including Games 5 and 6 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Second Round against the Washington Capitals.

... The Penguins have had the lead twice in the series for a combined 3:17.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+)

Video: Isles top Pens 4-1 to grab commanding 3-0 series lead

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By using NHL websites or other online services, you consent to the practices described in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, including our Cookie Policy.

First Round.:Eastern Conference First Round.:(M2) New York Islanders vs. (M3) Pittsburgh Penguins.

The New York Islanders finished second in the Metropolitan Division with 103 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins earned 100 points to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams with New York winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which Pittsburgh won in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series.
 The Islanders defeated the Penguins in a four-game sweep. This was the first Islanders sweep since 1983. In Game One, New York goalie Robin Lehner made 41 saves and Josh Bailey scored 4:39 into overtime to give the Islanders a 4–3 victory. Jordan Eberle had a goal and an assist in Game Two, leading the Islanders to a 3–1 victory.


(meta data) TITLE: Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep | NHL.com

##### Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep

## Lehner makes 25 saves; Eberle scores for third consecutive game

#### NYI@PIT, Gm3: Eberle snipes wrister from tough angle

Jordan Eberle receives a pass from Ryan Pulock on the doorstep and fires a sharp-angle shot past Matt Murray to tie the game at 1

The New York Islanders moved within one victory of eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Robin Lehner made 25 saves for New York, which leads the best-of-7 series 3-0 and can complete its first series sweep since defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final by winning Game 4 here on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+).

"This group, we've talked about just worrying about one game," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

"You just want to compete so you can continue to play.

[WATCH: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 3 highlights | Complete series coverage]

Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored 1:02 apart in the first period for the Islanders after Garrett Wilson had given the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Leo Komarov scored midway through the third period, and Anders Lee scored into an empty net for New York, which has outscored Pittsburgh 11-5 through three games.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Lehner alertly stands tall to deny Pens

Matt Murray made 32 saves for Pittsburgh, which last lost the first three games of a series in 2013, when it was swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has been held without a point in the first three games.

"You've got to find ways to score goals this time of year," Crosby said.

"It's not easy, but you have to find a way to do it.

Obviously, we haven't done a good enough job of that these first three games."

Wilson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead by deflecting a shot from Marcus Pettersson past Lehner at 12:54 of the first period.

He took a pass from Ryan Pulock just above the goal line to the left of the net, and his wrist shot hit Murray's shoulder and went into the top corner at 13:22 to make it 1-1.

Eberle has scored a goal in each of the first three games.

Nelson put the Islanders ahead 2-1 at 14:24, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush by taking a snap shot that beat Murray to the blocker side for his second goal of the playoffs.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Nelson buries wrister on odd-man rush

"Another good response by us," Nelson said.

"There's been lots of talking from the coaching staff and the players of just sticking with it, staying even.

Not getting too high or too low, especially now.

In the playoffs, there's a lot of emotion and high intensity.

So great job by us and good job in the second and third period of keeping it going."

Komarov made it 3-1 at 10:27 of the third period after Anthony Beauvillier tipped a pass from Valtteri Filppula to him in the right face-off circle.

He scored on a wrist shot past Murray's glove for the first playoff goal of his NHL career.

Lee made it 4-1 by scoring into an empty net with 1:28 remaining.

They're going to have their spurts in the game where they come hard and they're going to create.

We're just doing a really good job right now of staying tight and helping each other out with rebounds and loose pucks."

"In the first period, we get a big goal at the end of our power play.

They were able to come back and answer it in a fairly short time frame.

It seems like, in each game at this point, that's occurred.

We have to do a better job of hanging onto the momentum when we get it."

Teams that lead a best-of-7 NHL playoff series 3-0 have a series record of 186-4. ...

The goals by Eberle and Nelson were the fastest pair of playoff goals scored by the Islanders since Kip Miller and Mariusz Czerkawski scored 38 seconds apart in Game 6 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

... Eberle is the second player in Islanders history to score in each of his first three playoff games with New York; Ray Ferraro did it in 1993.

Penguins forward Jared McCann returned after missing Game 2 with an upper-body injury.

He had two shots and five hits in 14:23. ...

Murray has lost his past five starts in the playoffs, including Games 5 and 6 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Second Round against the Washington Capitals.

... The Penguins have had the lead twice in the series for a combined 3:17.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+)

Video: Isles top Pens 4-1 to grab commanding 3-0 series lead

The NHL uses cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies.

By using NHL websites or other online services, you consent to the practices described in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, including our Cookie Policy.

The New York Islanders finished second in the Metropolitan Division with 103 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins earned 100 points to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams with New York winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which Pittsburgh won in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series.
 The Islanders defeated the Penguins in a four-game sweep. This was the first Islanders sweep since 1983. In Game One, New York goalie Robin Lehner made 41 saves and Josh Bailey scored 4:39 into overtime to give the Islanders a 4–3 victory. Jordan Eberle had a goal and an assist in Game Two, leading the Islanders to a 3–1 victory. Lehner stopped 25 of 26 shots.


(meta data) TITLE: Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep | NHL.com

##### Islanders shut down Penguins in Game 3, one win from sweep

## Lehner makes 25 saves; Eberle scores for third consecutive game

#### NYI@PIT, Gm3: Eberle snipes wrister from tough angle

Jordan Eberle receives a pass from Ryan Pulock on the doorstep and fires a sharp-angle shot past Matt Murray to tie the game at 1

The New York Islanders moved within one victory of eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-1 victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Robin Lehner made 25 saves for New York, which leads the best-of-7 series 3-0 and can complete its first series sweep since defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final by winning Game 4 here on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+).

"This group, we've talked about just worrying about one game," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

"You just want to compete so you can continue to play.

[WATCH: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 3 highlights | Complete series coverage]

Jordan Eberle and Brock Nelson scored 1:02 apart in the first period for the Islanders after Garrett Wilson had given the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

Leo Komarov scored midway through the third period, and Anders Lee scored into an empty net for New York, which has outscored Pittsburgh 11-5 through three games.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Lehner alertly stands tall to deny Pens

Matt Murray made 32 saves for Pittsburgh, which last lost the first three games of a series in 2013, when it was swept by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has been held without a point in the first three games.

"You've got to find ways to score goals this time of year," Crosby said.

"It's not easy, but you have to find a way to do it.

Obviously, we haven't done a good enough job of that these first three games."

Wilson gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead by deflecting a shot from Marcus Pettersson past Lehner at 12:54 of the first period.

He took a pass from Ryan Pulock just above the goal line to the left of the net, and his wrist shot hit Murray's shoulder and went into the top corner at 13:22 to make it 1-1.

Eberle has scored a goal in each of the first three games.

Nelson put the Islanders ahead 2-1 at 14:24, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush by taking a snap shot that beat Murray to the blocker side for his second goal of the playoffs.

Video: NYI@PIT, Gm3: Nelson buries wrister on odd-man rush

"Another good response by us," Nelson said.

"There's been lots of talking from the coaching staff and the players of just sticking with it, staying even.

Not getting too high or too low, especially now.

In the playoffs, there's a lot of emotion and high intensity.

So great job by us and good job in the second and third period of keeping it going."

Komarov made it 3-1 at 10:27 of the third period after Anthony Beauvillier tipped a pass from Valtteri Filppula to him in the right face-off circle.

He scored on a wrist shot past Murray's glove for the first playoff goal of his NHL career.

Lee made it 4-1 by scoring into an empty net with 1:28 remaining.

They're going to have their spurts in the game where they come hard and they're going to create.

We're just doing a really good job right now of staying tight and helping each other out with rebounds and loose pucks."

"In the first period, we get a big goal at the end of our power play.

They were able to come back and answer it in a fairly short time frame.

It seems like, in each game at this point, that's occurred.

We have to do a better job of hanging onto the momentum when we get it."

Teams that lead a best-of-7 NHL playoff series 3-0 have a series record of 186-4. ...

The goals by Eberle and Nelson were the fastest pair of playoff goals scored by the Islanders since Kip Miller and Mariusz Czerkawski scored 38 seconds apart in Game 6 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

... Eberle is the second player in Islanders history to score in each of his first three playoff games with New York; Ray Ferraro did it in 1993.

Penguins forward Jared McCann returned after missing Game 2 with an upper-body injury.

He had two shots and five hits in 14:23. ...

Murray has lost his past five starts in the playoffs, including Games 5 and 6 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Second Round against the Washington Capitals.

... The Penguins have had the lead twice in the series for a combined 3:17.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS2, ATTSN-PT, MSG, MSG+)

Video: Isles top Pens 4-1 to grab commanding 3-0 series lead

The NHL uses cookies, web beacons, and other similar technologies.

By using NHL websites or other online services, you consent to the practices described in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, including our Cookie Policy.

The New York Islanders finished second in the Metropolitan Division with 103 points. The Pittsburgh Penguins earned 100 points to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams with New York winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, which Pittsburgh won in six games. These teams split their four-game regular season series.
 The Islanders defeated the Penguins in a four-game sweep. This was the first Islanders sweep since 1983. In Game One, New York goalie Robin Lehner made 41 saves and Josh Bailey scored 4:39 into overtime to give the Islanders a 4–3 victory. Jordan Eberle had a goal and an assist in Game Two, leading the Islanders to a 3–1 victory. Lehner stopped 25 of 26 shots. The Islanders won 4–1.