rwl@uvacs.UUCP (Ray Lubinsky) (02/04/86)
> But with respect to the comments on the press, it is interesting to note that > most programming was inturrupted for most of the day on the loss of 7 people. > Yet when a jumbo jet crashes with the loss of 300, we get a few bulletins and > first mention on the 6 o'clock news. It reminds of what Mr. Spock said in > one of the Star Trek episodes (to paraphrase): "You humans are strange. You > can mourn the loss of a single person, but you cannot feel the death of > millions." There are some of us that view the efforts of space exploration as a major goal for the human race: a chance for our civilization to survive and grow. True, the Challenger crew were humans like the victims of other disasters, but the role that they filled was singularly important. Maybe you could say that they and their fellow Shuttle crews are the new American heroes. I can't speak for you, but I can't feel the same way about the fate of total strangers as of people for whom I have some empathy. In a way, the shuttle crew were not total strangers because of their role, because we have followed their flights with so much interest and hope. The tragedy is both in the deaths of the people and the setback to effort of exploration. It's reassuring that public opinion has not been soured by this incident, despite the morbid way the news networks persued the question of the future of manned space flight. -- Ray Lubinsky University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science uucp: decvax!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!rwl