The Green Hills Of Earth, Thread for The Shuttle.

February 1, 2003 | Luis Gonzalez

[sweetliberty]

[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

[Chemist_Geek]

Happier thoughts... Rush: Neil Peart, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Countdown.

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...

[happygrl]

Thank you all for your tributes, and thank you Sparta for the ping.

I spent the entire morning on the long 2500+ post thread as it provided moment by moment accounts, surmisings, tributes.

But this is the thread that let me feel my feelings.

Thank you so much Luis for the poetry, your writings and the tributes. I was finally done in and wept when I read your post with the photo and the words from our President's address this morning - "they did not make it back to earth, but they made it home." Thanks to KBZod, ChemistCat, weikel, and Optimist for the poetry you shared. Each was very moving and captured another facet of the heavens and those who explore there. B-Chan, the poster is stunning and memorable . I liked the flags. Theophilus, the listing of all the many variations of the "Naval" Hymn was the first I had ever seen. I was an AF brat and sang the Air Force version every Sunday growing up.

Someday, when I think back on what I was doing on the day the Columbia dissolved into space, I'll remember that I was at Free Republic with the dear people I've met here.

Nothing more to add to what you've all said so well.

[snopercod]

Thanks. That was beautiful Luis. bump

[JudyB1938]

Each life is precious, but I am especially mourning the death of the beautiful girl from India. So much struggle and hardship to get to where she was. However, I don't think it will be in vain. Her death will have meaning for all the little girls growing up in India today. They will know they can aspire to greatness, too, and will always have her memory to spur them on.

[truthkeeper]

Beautiful poem. Thank you for posting it.

[Alamo-Girl]

We go on! Trusting in God with each step we take.

[Luis Gonzalez]

We go on.

[ELS]

"The first thing that came to mind as I looked at Earth was its incredible beauty. Even the spectacular photographs do not do it justice. It was a majestic sight - a splendid blue-and-white jewel suspended against a velvet black sky... The presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes." - Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, on viewing our planet from space.

[newguy357]

That is beautiful--did you write it?

[Theophilus]

I agree - No.

[KangarooJacqui]

A very tearful bump, one year on.

Columbia and her crew - you are not forgotten.