Challenger - 18 Years

Ronald Reagan ^ | 1-28-86

[Luis Gonzalez]

Thank you both.

[Husker24]

It's amazing how Columbia barely affected us this time. 9/11 really changed Americans, for the far worse.

Your exactly right, I remember I was in 6th grade at school when they brought us in the library to watch it (after the explosion) I remember it being 100x the news story that the Columbia was. The death and destruction of 9/11 simply hasnt been paralleled in recent history. As bad as it sounds, the death of 7 people just didnt affect people the same after seeing 3000 die.

[Kirkwood]

I was teaching at a medical school and setting up a lab. One of my students came in and told me the shuttle blew apart into a million pieces. I couldn't believe it. At the time I was considering their medical scientist program. Class started an hour later and many of the students had tears in their eyes that day. I still remember the look of shock in everyone's face, while I struggled to concentrate on the lecture.

[.38sw]

bookmarked.

[Howlin]

]

 

High Flight

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 wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

[Indy Pendance]

Thanks for posting that, it touches my soul and is really poignant.

[KangarooJacqui]

Very moving. Thanks for posting that, Howlin.

(Ah heck, you've got me crying again...)

[Ohioan from Florida]

Wow, beautiful is all I can say! It took me a while of reading more of those posts to realize that was posted in 2001. 9/11 nor Columbia had happened yet. The world continues to change. Are we getting any better or wiser?

[Luis Gonzalez]

The Green Hills of Earth

Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me
As they rove around the girth
Of our lovely mother planet
Of the cool, green hills of Earth.

We've tried each spinning space mote
And reckoned its true worth:
Take us back again to the homes of men
On the cool, green hills of Earth.

The arching sky is calling
Spacemen back to their trade.
ALL HANDS! STAND BY! FREE FALLING!
And the lights below us fade.

Out ride the sons of Terra,
Far drives the thundering jet,
Up leaps a 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 the fleecy skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
Robert A. Heinlein

[Incorrigible]

That closing line is probably the best ever in a presidential speech. I get chills whenever I hear it.

Couldn't agree more.

[Howlin]

Luis, you should write more often. I had forgotten how moving your work is.

[Howlin]

I'm crying, too.

I love that poem so much that I had it read at my son's funeral. He wasn't a pilot, but I hope it describes the "life" he's living now.

[Luis Gonzalez]

I'm trying...too old and bitter I guess.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Hang in there my friend.

[KangarooJacqui]

The world continues to change. Are we getting any better or wiser?

Probably just more accustomed to hurt, I'd say.

That said... I've had to wipe several tears off my keyboard during this thread alone... maybe it's time for me to "Step AWAY from the computer, ma'am..." 8>)

[Howlin]

No need to be bitter; life is good, not that you'd be able to tell it around here........LOL.

[Howlin]

Probably just more accustomed to hurt, I'd say.

Oh, I hope not. Not the kind of hurt that the reminder of Challenger brings.

[Monty22]

And when 30,000 die for allah, those 3,000 will seem like the 7 before and forgotten. That's the price we pay for allowing islam to exist.

[pax_et_bonum]

Thank you for post 22.

pax

[GOPyouth]

I was a 3rd grader at Richardson Elementary in Minden, Louisiana. I remember my friend Jason telling me the Challenger had blown up. I'll never forget President Reagan's speech that day when he told us the astronauts had touched the grace of God.

As for the Columbia, I was sound asleep in San Diego when my mom called me from my hometown in Tyler, Texas, to tell me that it was lost.