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Sat 1 Oct, 2011 06:35 pm
Context:
Vandenberg Air Force Base, California 3
Sic Transit Glory
A rocket failure on 4 March sent NASA’s
Earth-observing Glory satellite plunging
into the South Pacifi c. The loss of the
satellite—launched to monitor subtle vari-
ations in the sun’s brightness and identify
small particles called aerosols in Earth’s
atmosphere—deprives climate scientists
of key data needed to estimate future
global warming.
There's a Latin tag line, sic transit gloria mundi, the origin of which is obscure. It means "Thus passes the glory of the world," and is often used in the sense of worldly things being fleeting, transitory. The author is making a play on words, in that the vehicle was named Glory, and it transited rather quickly by plunging into the ocean.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
There's a Latin tag line, sic transit gloria mundi, the origin of which is obscure. ...
It was (and still is, I think) used during the papal coronation as a phrase to remind of the transitory nature of life and earthly honours.
@Walter Hinteler,
Them Popes has got their fingers in every pie . . .
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