Space Shuttle Columbia Lost

My sincere condolences to the American people on the loss of the space shuttle and its crew.

Our very sincere condolences to the families of the crew.

What a terrible tragedy, not only for our country but for the entire world.

Our prayers are with the families of our beautiful crew, may they find comfort in the knowledge their loved ones died doing what they loved.

God bless them.

I am at a loss for words. The tragedy is much too terrible to contemplate. I mourn for the families of the astronauts, the people of the United States, and the entire world.

It is indeed a tragedy and a black day. My condolences to the families of the astronauts. God bless.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3678&highlight= Related thread



timber

http://www.news-journalonline.com/BreakingNews/news99.htm

Is This True:

I just heard on Boston radio, that the Israeli on the shuttle was involved in the attack by Israel on an Iraqi nuclear plant in the past.

Don't know if it is true- but we heard the same.


..There's no better place to emphasize the unity of people in the world than flying to space," Ilan Ramon, an Israeli air force colonel, said.

"It goes the same for any country, Arab country, whatever - we are all the same people, we are all human beings and I believe that most of us, almost all of us, are good people."
http://abc.net.au/news/scitech/2003/01/item20030104123237_1.htm

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.




'High Flight' by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Thanks PDiddie.

Thank you for your sacrifice. We shall carry your memory to the stars.



timber

Even knowing that there are risks to flying far beyond our atmosphere, it saddens the world that these pioneers have been lost. God speed. c.i.

This poem, by the great science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, was posted on another website in memory of the Columbia and her crew.

Almighty Ruler of the All

Almighty ruler of the all
Whose power extends to great and small,
Who guides the stars with steadfast law,
Whose least creation fills with awe -
Oh grant Thy mercy and Thy grace
To those who venture into space.


It is a sad day, another sad day for all of us.

This poem, by the way, was apparently intended by Heinlein as an additional verse to the Navy Hymn:

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/eternal.html

I was just thinking about the question of why we mourn the loss of seven astronauts more than we mourn, for example, the loss of thousands who die every year in car accidents.

I think it is because the injury that occurred today goes beyond just the loss of seven lives. It is a blow against our very hopes for the future.

The assassination of JFK. The killing of John Lennon. The Challenger and Columbia. The fall of the WTC. These are all events that involve more than just the deaths of the individuals involved but also the death of hopes, dreams, and perhaps a certain childlike naivete.

The anonymous person killed in a car accident. The faceless Iraqi citizen killed by a U.S. bomb. The old man who dies hacking to death on the remains of lungs ravaged by cigarette consumption. These are all tragedies in that they are the loss of a human life. But we have little or no emotional investment in their lives. So their deaths just don't mean as much to us.

Only God can care about all human beings equally. Only God can mourn all human beings equally. The most we can hope for is to emulate His example as best we can.

PDiddie, they push the envelope!

Such sadness, such pain. I think PDiddie has hit on something, that it's, in part, the death of dreams that affects us so very deeply.

In part of the coverage yesterday, apparently a human remain was found in Hemphill, Texas. I saw that and thought, Thank Goodness; at least one of the families will have something to bury.

Laurel Clark's cousin died in the WTC. Makes you remember we're all interrelated.

I hope this is not the precursor of more tragedies to come in Iraq. c.i.