homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (02/04/86)
The following was written by a friend, Patricia Harper Cummings of
South Pasadena, California.
TO THE CHALLENGER
We had come to think of you as the Space Titanic, hadn't we? Somehow,
along the way, we had forgotten that you were part of an imperfect world,
a world where both victories and tragedies exist. You were our Disneyland
in the Sky - someday we might even have a chance to go ourselves, or our
children, on the ultimate vacation to the cosmos. On Tuesday we cheered
as you carried seven of us with you. And we trusted you to bring them
back, but you failed us. Or did we fail you? In that smoke and in those
ashes that we watched in horror and disbelief drift sadly down into the
sea, we watched our hero, our false god and our fantasies fall as well.
You who had become our symbol of national pride, of triumph and of
adventure, perhaps you were meant to be something else. We will search to
find that now - your true identity - for we will now search with hearts
united in devastation. Perhaps then you will be resurrected in our
wounded spirits into that which you were destined to be: a reminder of our
finitude, a call to try again, and an invitation to a new mission with our
sights fixed even Higher next time.
Patricia Harper Cummings
--
Peter Homeier ______
Arpanet: homeier@aerospace / o \_/
UUCP: ..!ihnp4!trwrb!aero!homeier \___)__/ \
The Aerospace Corporation, M1-108
El Segundo, CA 90245
Disclaimer: Anything expressed above is my personal opinion, and not
the position of the Aerospace Corporation.mnw@trwrba.UUCP (Michael N. Washington) (02/11/86)
Although the explosion that caused the destruction on the Space Shuttle,
Challenger was a great tragedy, I hope that our country, NASA, and our
politicians see fit to continue our space program. I feel that the only
other time we as humans make great advances in space, medicine, and
technology is through our space program, not through a war!
We of the twentieth century should never resort to war to solve our
problems. We should have learned from history that that war does not
solve anything. It only leads to other wars, suffering (needlessly) and
loss of precious life.
"Live Long and Prosper!"
Michael N. Washington
TRW E&DS Redondo Beach, Ca. 90278
{ucbvax,decvax,hplabs}!trwrb!trwrba!mnw