On Friday, NASA honored a handful of journalists who spent much of their time with their eyes pointing toward the heavens.
- Journalists added to "The Chroniclers" a wall of honor at Kennedy Space Center
- Among those honored, former News 13 anchor Scott Harris
- Wall honors space journalists and icons like Walter Cronkite
One of those journalists, former News 13 anchor Scott Harris. Harris was posthumously honored with his son in attendance.
Scott Harris’ son, Emery McGough, said his late father loved reporting from the space coast, covering NASA space launches from the first shuttle mission in 1981 to the very last launch in 2011.
On Friday, the former News 13 anchor and others were honored as “Chroniclers” by NASA for helping to spread the news of American space exploration.
Harris worked for two other stations in Central Florida before before helping to launch News 13's 24-hour newscasts back in 1997. He faithfully covered launches at the space coast time and time again.
Scott was there as STS-135, the final launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis in July 2011. Illness would claim Scott a month later. But on Friday he was fondly remembered for his efforts, with his son, Emery McGough, standing in for him.
“It was hard to be here. I wanted him to get it, of course,” said McGough.
Emery says Scott had a passion for journalism and space.
Scott’s name will now hang proudly with the likes of other great journalists, like the iconic Walter Cronkite, who covered Americas successful effort to put a man on the moon.
“He would cherish this award above all because of so much time he spent here," McGough said. "And he knew that when he was here, he was with the best.”
In 2011, Mayor Buddy Dyer named March 4 "Scott Harris Day" in the city of Orlando.