High above the Earth, in the deep blue morning skies over Texas, tragedy struck Saturday. An anguished nation mourned another shuttle loss, streaks of smoldering debris streaming through the heavens an all-too-familiar sight, an eery flashback to the Challenger disaster 17 short years ago, almost to the day.Like the Challenger, sadly, there were no survivors -- all seven brave heroes perished as their ship, The Columbia, barely 16 minutes before scheduled landing, disintegrated hundreds of thousands of feet over north-central Texas, while hurling at speeds of over 12,500 miles per hour.
"They dedicated their lives to pushing the scientific challenges for all of us here on Earth," said the President of the crewmen, which included the first Israeli astronaut, Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon.
"A more courageous group of people you could not have hoped to know," he added.
The President, back from Camp David, spoke to the nation from the Cabinet Room at the White House 5 hours after learning of Columbia's fate. His tempered, subdued tone, somberness and solemnity seemed to captured the mood of the country -- again, reminiscent of the Challenger aftermath, when President Reagan, in words immortal, soothed the pain and anguish then.
To the families of the astronauts, Bush offered his deepest, heartfelt condolences.
"You're not alone," he said. "Our entire nation grieves with you, and those you loved will always have the respect and gratitude of this country." Bush spoke personally to many of the families by phone.
To the nation, he vowed defiantly to press ahead with the space program.
The astronauts, who were led by mission chief and Air Force Colonel Rick Husband, died for a cause, and that "cause in which they died will continue," he said. "Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on."
Bush's words echoed those of the Gipper's after the Challenger explosion, when he promised to "continue our quest of space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space." Two short years later, the shuttle was back up and running.
Bush movingly recited the names of each of the Columbia astronauts. In addition to Col. Husband and Col. Ramon, there was "Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; [and] Dr. Kalpana Chawla."
As a mark of respect for the lost crew, the President ordered American flags lowered to half-staff till next Wednesday.
A deeply devout man, the President reached for Scripture, quoting verbatim a soaring passage from the Old Testament book of 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 each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."President Bush: "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.
"May God bless the grieving families, and may God continue to bless American."
To which I have but one word to add: 'Amen.'
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"