E-Mail Sent by Astronaut Laurel Clark

[Suzie]

E-Mail Sent by Astronaut Laurel Clark
E-Mail Sent by Astronaut Laurel Clark

The Associated Press



Feb. 3 —
Laurel Clark of Racine, Wis., was a submarine doctor with the U.S. Navy before joining NASA in 1996, traveling to the depths of the oceans before soaring above as a mission specialist helping with science experiments on the space shuttle Columbia. The mother of an 8-year-old son, she was on her first shuttle mission when Columbia disintegrated over Texas. The day before she died, she sent an e-mail home to family and friends:

"Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science round the clock. Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love.

I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the cityglow of Australia below, the crescent moon setting over the limb of the Earth, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet. Mount Fuji looks life a small bump from up here, but it does stand out as a very distinct landmark.

Magically, the very first day we flew over Lake Michigan and I saw Wind Point (Wis.) clearly. Haven't been so lucky since. Every orbit we go over a slightly different part of the Earth. Of course, much of the time I'm working back in Spacehab and don't see any of it. Whenever I do get to look out, it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness.

I have seen my 'friend' Orion several times. Taking photos of the earth is a
MORE HERE (http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030203_200.html)

[nosferatuscoffin]

Thanks for sharing that Suzi. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif It was very touching.

How almost surreal and ironic that her last missive was written while flying among the heavens, as that was the next destination for herself and her crewmates.

Something poetic there, I think. But am not quite sure.

Nos

[DoctorDoom]

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,
And done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor eer eagle flew--
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

-- John Gillespie Magee, "High Flight"

Info on the sonnet: High Flier (http://www.qunl.com/rees0008.html)

[nosferatuscoffin]

Nods, I always think of "High Flight" whenver I see the Reagan speech after the Challenger tragedy.

I first heard that poem when I was a kid. One of the local TV stations, right before they signed off for the night (I am showing my age here, since no station ever signs off anymore for the most part) would show a short video clip, about 2 minutes long, of an old time late 1950's, early 1960's fighter plane (I forget which model now) taking off and flying higher and higher until it reached the zenith of the sky. ("To touch the face of God") All the while, a man would recite "High Flight". It was a very touching piece of filmwork.Around 1979, they updated the plane with, I think F-14 or F-16 and had William Conrad narrate the poem

Nos