I know there is already a thread about this, but it's kind of haphazard and full of some really ignorant statements about our president who, just a few weeks ago, signed a billion dollars over to NASA.
The crew of the Columbia are my heroes and many other people's as well. This thread is just a place to give a little salute, say a few words, and what have you.
/me salutes, sheds a few tears, and listens to a song.
What an appropriate song. The destroyed wings of the Space Shuttle, and the memories of the people who died, will be carried throughout time.
I haven't cried in years. But this brought me pretty close...
"Mankind as a baby reaching out to learn...these 7 researches were its hands" -BigJoe
i only just heard about it on cnn in the cafeteria as i went down for lunch. 7 researchers who had remained nameless till this had to happen...
rather painful the annymosity that most of the ppl importatnt to mankind's advancement have to go through.
SPACE - THE FINAL FRONTIER
"We will go on," Pogue told the crowd. "It's a terrible tragedy, but you don't stop flying airplanes because an airplane crashed. You don't stop driving automobiles because you have an automobile accident. It's the same sort of thing, but it's that this is so dramatic it tears at you emotionally."
/me bows her head.
Rest In Peace.
I still remember the day of the Challenger explosion way back when I was in 1st grade. School let out early that day, and no one left the building with dry eyes.
I have always found astronomy to be a fascinating subject. Any time a link appears on Yahoo about a new planet being discovered or something, I read all about it with great interest.
Also, I still have a "Big Book of Space" from my childhood (published shortly after space flights resumed after the Challenger disaster) and my astronomy textbook from college, and to this day I'll pick one of them up and read it occasionally. The information may be outdated but it is no less interesting.
I have always considered astronauts to be heroes. And so does Dennis Miller... I love what he said a while back when he ranted about the space program on his (unfortunately canceled after last season) show:
Astronauts are genuine heroes, no joke here, men and women so brave they make Edmund Hillary look like Shaggy from "Scooby-Doo." Anybody who would strap themselves onto a giant deodorant spray can, set off a series of explosions under their ass until they've been blasted into the icy vacuum of deep space, and then step outside to take a walk must have more balls than a twenty-four-hour Tokyo driving range.
Though I do believe NASA was created for no reason other than a desire to beat the Commies, it has since become much more than that and must go on. And I'm sure it will.
Even though i have very lil sympathy for things some people may even call me an ass hole. But that is kinda sad.
If you're going to post something rude, at least make it make sense, OK?
AlphaDawg, that Dennis Miller quote is fabulous. It is going in my sig.