On the globe that gave us birth;
Let us rest our eyes on the friendly skies
And the cool, green hills of Earth.
Your prayers, your thoughts, your tears...our tears.
These men and women worked in near anonymity. Driven not by a search for personal gain, but an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, they flung themselves heavenward and surfed the wild winds of space, taming the vast frozen nothingness that surrounds this vibrant blue sphere we all share.
These are heroes, and not because they perished, but because they lived at all. These fathers, and mothers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters who dared to challenge the everlasting cosmic night riding in their metal and fire chariot, are elsewhere now…a better place.
They leave behind grieving families, and heart-broken nations.
Look skyward, we should...all of us, look for a star streaking across the early morning sky, before the kiss of the sun wakes the breeze and dissolves the mists, and bid them Godspeed, these brave souls who dared the wild winds.
"In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet farther than we can see there is comfort and hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.""The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today."
"The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home."---George W. Bush
|
but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. Eskimo Legend |
Lit up with anticipation
We arrive at the launching site
The sky is still dark, nearing dawn
On the Florida coastline
Circling choppers slash the night
With roving searchlight beams
This magic day when super-science
Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams
Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapours, like the breath
Of a sleeping white dragon
Crackling speakers, voices tense
Resume the final count
All systems check, T minus nine
As the sun and the drama start to mount
The air is charged
A humid, motionless mass
The crowds and the cameras,
The cars full of spectators pass
Excitement so thick you could cut it with a knife
Technology...high, on the leading edge of life
The earth beneath us starts to tremble
With the spreading of a low black cloud
A thunderous roar shakes the air
Like the whole world exploding
Scorching blast of golden fire
As it slowly leaves the ground
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound
Like a pillar of cloud
The smoke lingers high in the air
In fascination
With the eyes of the world
We stare...
Columbia now thirty nine nautical miles altitude, twenty miles downrange...
Young and Crippen really moving now, velocity sixty two hundred feet per second.
What a view, what a view!
Glad you're enjoying it...