Warlady
02-01-2003, 04:35 PM
'The Days of Miracle and Wonder'
The Columbia's loss is a searing reminder of American heroism.
Saturday, February 1, 2003 3:38 p.m. EST
"The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors." Blunt words spoken softly by President Bush this afternoon. He spoke of how easy it is for all of us to "overlook the dangers of travel by rocket. . . . These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly." He spoke of why "mankind is led into the darkness," and he promised that "our journey into space will go on."
" 'Lift your eyes and look to the heavens,' " he said, quoting Isaiah. "The same Creator who names the stars knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today."
His remarks were explicitly God-based, and that seemed just right. At moments like this presidents fall back on their primary thought-stream. Bush went straight to the spiritual.
Oh my, it is painful. The parents of astronaut David Brown were just on television, live, early in the afternoon of the day their son died. Mr. Brown said his son had told him he dreamed of going to Mars. He added that all Dave's flight friends wanted a Mars journey. David Brown's parents spoke with a helpful air, with pained poise, of their son who had died in the morning. Thrown back by life and trying to be helpful. You wonder where astronaut David Brown got his guts? Meet Mr. and Mrs. Brown of Arlington. Va.
It sends you back, doesn't it? You see the broken line of vapor against the blue sky and hear the voices anchormen get when they have to ad lib disaster, and it takes you back to that winter day 17 years ago when America was horrified to see a spacecraft blow up before its eyes.
But this one is different, in so many ways.
We weren't watching it take off, live, we were watching it come back in, only we weren't watching because we've grown so used to marvels.
Click to read the rest (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110003014)
The Columbia's loss is a searing reminder of American heroism.
Saturday, February 1, 2003 3:38 p.m. EST
"The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors." Blunt words spoken softly by President Bush this afternoon. He spoke of how easy it is for all of us to "overlook the dangers of travel by rocket. . . . These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly." He spoke of why "mankind is led into the darkness," and he promised that "our journey into space will go on."
" 'Lift your eyes and look to the heavens,' " he said, quoting Isaiah. "The same Creator who names the stars knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today."
His remarks were explicitly God-based, and that seemed just right. At moments like this presidents fall back on their primary thought-stream. Bush went straight to the spiritual.
Oh my, it is painful. The parents of astronaut David Brown were just on television, live, early in the afternoon of the day their son died. Mr. Brown said his son had told him he dreamed of going to Mars. He added that all Dave's flight friends wanted a Mars journey. David Brown's parents spoke with a helpful air, with pained poise, of their son who had died in the morning. Thrown back by life and trying to be helpful. You wonder where astronaut David Brown got his guts? Meet Mr. and Mrs. Brown of Arlington. Va.
It sends you back, doesn't it? You see the broken line of vapor against the blue sky and hear the voices anchormen get when they have to ad lib disaster, and it takes you back to that winter day 17 years ago when America was horrified to see a spacecraft blow up before its eyes.
But this one is different, in so many ways.
We weren't watching it take off, live, we were watching it come back in, only we weren't watching because we've grown so used to marvels.
Click to read the rest (http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110003014)