godspeed columbia and her crew
It does not seem possible that 17 years ago this week, as I sat in my 4th
grade classroom in stunned silence when Mr. Tisler, my teacher, announced
NASA had lost contact with Challenger. So much has changed in our world.
So many lessons learned from that accident. So much has been made by the
combined efforts of the world in creating the International Space Station.
Our lives, our country, our world may be so different now than they were
in 1986, but the shuttles flew again and kept flying. They launched
satellites, the Hubble space telescope, and the significant structure of
the ISS. They have performed countless science missions. They have kept
the crews of more than 100 flights safe.
But yesterday, I awoke to the tradgic news of the loss of another of the
orbiter fleet. Columbia was the first of the shuttles to orbit the Earth.
But she was too young to go so soon. Too young was her crew -- seven
astronauts who braved the harshesd environment man has ever lived and
worked in.
Columbia's future, with budget cutbacks and massive cost overruns of the
ISS construction, was uncertain. This could have been her final flight --
but it certainly should not have ended this way. Sixteen days in space on
what NASA officialls called a remarkable science mission. With the
combined efforts of the Columbia and ISS crews, never before has so much
science taken place in space at one time.
Before ISS was a reality, a second catastrophic shuttle accident might
have spelled the end for the fleet. Today we have the ISS to support and
build; we must go back. Space is our legacy. The men and women with "the
right stuff" might not make it to Mars, or even back to the Moon, anytime
soon (though hopefully in my lifetime) but we will return and we will
honor the memories of all those who have died and sacraficed for our
legacy.
Godspeed Columbia and her crew.
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