I apologize about my grammar and spelling. I’m not thinking to clearly. 
It’s just the latest model of the spacecraft that Russians cosmonauts have been flying in for decades.
I hope it doesn’t come to that. I’m really hoping October 30, 2000 will forever be the last day that all of mankind was confined to one planet…
Eric
The Israeli ambassador to the UN is being interviewed now, on MSNBC.
My Goddess, he’s saying such wonderful things about Ramon, the US, and Israel. Referred to Ramon as going up in the shuttle with his American “friends.” Not colleagues or coworkers or fellow astronauts. His friends.
It gives me hope. It really does. Hope for humanity.
That was just one piece of debris. There will be debris landing for over 100 miles; they say some might make it all the way to Alabama.
I remember when Challanger exploded. I was at work. Knowing what a big supporter of the space program I was, one of my coworkers asked me if I still supported it, if I still thought it was worth it. Even though I was crying at the time, I still said “yes.”
I’m crying again, I feel like I’ve lost a friend, and I still say “yes.”
God be with them and the ones they left behind.
I’m sorry, I was too much in shock to express myself clearly. The thump and vibration wasn’t anything landing on my roof, I mistook it for something landing on my roof. It was the sound of the shuttle, an explosion, or sonic boom, or something. People all over the DFW area have reported the same thing. But I appreciate your concern.
Listening to the reports and reflections on the astronauts on the radio is just breaking my heart, but I can’t not listen. I can’t imagine the pain their families must be feeling.
I have a friend whose father was killed when the Challenger exploded. All I can think about is how she must feel to watch history repeating itself with the Columbia.
Crap.
Crap crap crap.
For those speculating about the selling of Columbia relics, NASA has already added this to their home page:
**NOTE TO PERSONS IN THE AREA: All debris is United States Government property and is critical to the investigation of the shuttle accident. Any and all debris from the accident is to be left alone and reported to Government authorities. Unauthorized persons found in possession of accident debris will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. **
Has it struck anybody else that CNN’s “Breaking News” logo is all too horribly appropriate?
Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps the race of Earthmen,
Out, far, and onward yet -
We pray for one last landing
On the globe that gave us birth
Let us rest our eyes on fleecy skies
And the cool green hills of earth!
~Robert Heinlein, The Green Hills of Earth
Rest in peace, Columbia and crew.
Somewhat rambling here…
I had just arrived at the airport for my usual Saturday morning flight (cancelled due to low ceilings, fog, and other crappy weather effects) when I saw everyone clustered around the TV, and the TV on CNN instead of the Weather Channel. My first thought was “Oh, crap - it’s either war or a terrorist attack”.
Can’t say I was happy to find I was wrong on that guess.
Yes, we were all upset. Although not all pilots want to go into space the majority of us would very much like to do so. But nobody was crying. We were sad - but also speculating on what might have gone wrong. Upset, yes, but differently than many people here seem to be, and very different from those who, in the next few days, will call for an end to manned space travel.
Maybe it’s a different perspective on risk.
The flying I do isn’t terribly dangerous, but there are real risks. I have helped pull a bloody friend from a wrecked aircraft - I did so an hour and a half after my first flight lesson. The following week I showed up on time for my lesson. I have taken off from an airport the day after an accident with a small passenger jet left 4 foot high chunks of metal sticking out of the ground and a mile and a half long skid mark charred into the ground. It never occured to me NOT to take off, even when doing so meant flying over the NTSB investigators using spoons to scoop evidence into teeny tiny plastic bags. I have never had the illusion of complete safety. I have never stopped flying. For me, the joys and wonder of flight outweigh the risks. Mind you - I’m cautious, I do my best to prevent trouble - but I’m not blinding myself to the dangers. Yet I long to get back into the sky, every day of my life.
If given a chance I’d climb into a space shuttle and launch tomorrow.
Why? Because sometimes pursuing a dream is worth the risk. I’d rather die today trying to achieve something than to live to 100 and never have lived at all. And that’s why there were no tears shed at the airport, any more than we weep at the crash of a passenger jet or the crash of a small Cessna with just one aboard - the risks are not a surprise. We KNOW it’s there. If the person involved is a close friend, a relative… yes, we cry over them as we would cry over any death. We grieve because they’re gone, not because of the way of their going.
I know every one of those astronauts felt the same way about what they were doing - It’s dangerous, but they’ll take the risk because the dream is worth embracing.
I feel sorry for their families, their friends, but I don’t want the dream to die. I know the astronauts wouldn’t want that, either.
I still dream of space. I know the rush and the joy of lifting into the sky, of the ground falling away below and the freedom and power of rushing through the great, blue spaces - how much more intense would be the ride up into the great darkness above the blue?
Oh yes, I’d go tomorrow… I’d go today… I’d go right now… I’d be happy to go into space - or even to die trying.
If we have no dreams or aspirations, if we have nothing to reach and strive for… what is the purpose of living?
Crap. I just realized I heard this happen.
I was still in bed, sleeping in on a Saturday, when I was briefly awakened by a long, rumbling clap of thunder. “Huh,” I thought, “I didn’t think it was supposed to rain today.” Then I went back to sleep.
Watching my son playing outside on this bright, sunny afternoon, I suddenly remembered hearing that. Strange feeling-it’s like when I was watching the end of Dale Earnhardt’s last race, and saw his car piling into the wall in the background as the leaders crossed the finish lane. “Hope he’s not hurt,” I thought, as I turned off the TV.
Somehow, it seems like experiencing someone’s sudden death should ‘feel’ more significant at the time, even when you don’t realize what’s happened.
What a strange world.
I first read this poem in 1986. I never thought I’d end up posting it under the same tragic circumstances:
-Officer John G. Magee, 1941
God damn it. :mad:
The crawl on Fox News recently had a blurb about NASA requesting mobilization of search & rescue teams in the area. I wonder how much, if any, remains of the crew will be found.
I just woke up.
Fuck.
MSNBC is reporting a human hand has been found.
Christ, do we need to hear this?
An hour or so ago, CNN played the last bit of audio between Mission Control and Columbia, anyone else catch that? They were saying something about the shuttle’s tires. The CNN reporters then specualted on the possibility that the tires exploded and caused signigicant damage to the shuttle’s underbelly.
My mother had died the night before the Challenger disaster. I was home sick and didn’t even have the TV on until a friend called to tell me about the shuttle explosion; most of my day was spent passing on the news of my mother’s death with friends who were calling to discuss the shuttle. Much of the time at my mother’s wake was spent discussing the shuttle.
Obviously, discussions of shuttle disasters have a more personal meaning for me. I’m having flashbacks to 17 years ago, which are not helping my attempts to follow the news.
I may just switch over to a movie until my mind settles down.
Damn
“We are happy that it broke up.” -Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi, Iraqi government employee. From here. So, apparently there are some fuckwits out there who think that this is somehow a good thing.
May the astronauts rest in peace. At least they died doing what they loved; that’s something that I would gladly accept when at the end of my days.