THREAD OF SILENCE

02/01/03 | Ken Roberts

[Old Professer]

Nothing left to say.

[Imperialist]

< >

[valkyrieanne]

[EternalVigilance]

On a clear summer night back in 1983, I was standing by an Iowa road. One of my trucks had broken down, and I was fixing it.

It was one of those nights you don't forget; the stars were out in all their glory, the wide belt of the Milky Way above me. It was not possible to be out there under that sky and not look up in wonder.

Suddenly my eye was drawn to the southeast. A streak of fire was rising into that gorgeous night sky; arching gracefully but forcefully upwards.

I had been busy with work, not paying any attention to the news. But it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was: the Space Shuttle Columbia blasting off on what I believe was the first night launch.

It was amazing, a sight I will always remember.

A few years later I saw Columbia riding atop its 747---they made a flyaround and stopover in Omaha at Offutt Airbase, then the home of the Strategic Air Command.

Those are the two times I laid eyes on Columbia---experiences I will always treasure in my heart.

[Chesterbelloc]

.

[StarFan]

The hands of Nadia, a Rice University student from New York City, shields the flame from her candle as she visits a memorial site to the seven space shuttle Columbia astronauts at the main gate of the Johnson Space Center in Houston Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

An Israeli flag waves at a makeshift memorial Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003 in Houston, Texas as memorials bearing the names of the seven astronauts who perished aboard the space shuttle Columbia are illuminated.(AP Photo/Matt York)

The Israeli flag and several American flags along with a sign for Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon anchor a memorial site for the seven Columbia astronauts at the main gate of the Johnson Space Center in Houston Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

[Optimist]

Perhaps they are not the stars,
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

[Bad~Rodeo]

[KneelBeforeZod]

[Brytani]

To anyone who would like to say the Hebrew Kaddish in honor of our fellow astronaut from Israel, please follow this link.

http://www.temple-isaiah.org/education/BMitzvah/kaddish.htm

[happygrl]

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

William Butler Yeats

[antonz]

.

[RightOnline]

[azhenfud]

Psalms Ch. 116 V. 15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

[Indiana Girl]

They are with God.

[Teacher317]

.

[M Kehoe]

5.56mm

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

†††††††

[FReepaholic]

[Gal.5:1]

Mourning and praying...