Please forgive me as I've not had time to sit down and write this, I know it's late, so I appologize for that in advance. This morning, for the second time ever, the United States lost a space shuttle. Many years ago, when the Challenger exploded, I was sitting at home, on my living room couch watching the news. I rarely watched the news back then, hell I rarely watch it now, but I was watching it because they were televising the launch live. I have always been interested in the space program, and it has always been my goal in life to be involved in it in some way. If I ever get to it, I want to get my degree in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering, continuing on to higher education with specialization in orbital mechanics. Space flight has always been a big deal to me, and the astronaughts always my heroes. When the challenger exploded it was hell, litterally. Not only had I just seen real death for the first time in my life, it was the death of 6 astronaughts and one school teacher.
This morning at about 10:45 I was in my car driving down Washington Road, I had not had the TV on, I had not been up long, and I was listening to a CD. I said to myself, "Let's see what's on the radio for a change," and I clicked the FM button. The first thing I hear is, "Officials from NASA are warning everyone if you encounter debris that might be from the shuttle, don't touch it." I was shocked, utterly. We lost 7 more today, 7 more people who were heroes to little children everywhere who dream of going into space.
The astronaughts aboard Space Shuttle Columbia believed in the space program and it's importance to not only the United States, but to the world and our children's futures. As a nation we owe it to them to not let this accident cause the program to falter. After it's investigated and all is done, we must continue on the mission they believed in so deeply. And after all, we've only had two space shuttle accidents that cost the lives of the crews like this, so when you look at it, it's actually the safest way to travel.
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