Posted on 11/01/2004 1:01:30 PM PST by Paul Ross
For those who have the time to quietly reflect, as we choose for our nation our leadership, I humbly submit that there is little better "signal" of character than this solemn memorial to fallen heroes...
Great link. They are heroes!
Wrong.
Many think that the Space Shuttle was some routine ride into space. It never was. Every launch and flight was a MAJOR risk where uncountable things could go wrong. It was never routine. What they did was extremely risky, they were truly hero's first, and victims second.
If there are heroes anymore, these are.
Yes, they did now and they went anyway. There are a million more who would do the same thing. Ten million.
thanks you for that post....as i was reading the posts, my first thought was "and slipped the surly bonds of earth, to touch the face of God." Contrary to what an earlier post said about them not being heroes but victims, all of these wonderful people ARE heroes - they have visited the new frontier looking for more than we have here on Earth. May God bless all of these true American Heroes. They truly did touch the face of God.
This was not a mass produced flying Honda car where millions were made. A proven product so to speak.
Every launch, every flight was a big time risk to anyone on board. Shuttle flights were never routine no matter what the media may say. They all knew this going in.
Many of them don't go into prayer service before launch for nothing. They were hero's.
Ping.
I worked at SAEF-II and the VPF. :-)
Codswallop! I would have been first in line!
No. They were pioneers venturing into a "new land". Were the people who died along the western wagon routes victims as well?
Should we still be living in caves?
Indeed, they did. There were studies that all the astronauts were aware of, that calculated the odds of catastrophic failure...indeed using catrastrophe theory and failure analysis of "criticality one" malfunctions...that show actually we have been beating the odds. These were heroes to take the gamble, and ride on what is still, at bottom, a continuing "X" prototype that continues to be modified and evolve.
The fixes we are now doing give us some over-due options. It would truly be best to now move on past the 1970's era design and get an all-new manned lift approach, or at least replace the 70's design with an escape module version. But negligence on the part of a fiscally-tight-fisted Congress...with social spenders constantly carping for more welfare, and less space exploration...does not take one iota away from the courage of these brave astronauts.
I know this is an old thread,but I was just looking at things and I just wanted to say I really like that picture!
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