Five years ago today ...

[unixronin]

"Buildings shook in Texas.  Columbia was coming home."

And no, sorry, no cut here.  Thanks to Master Sergeant wcg for the reminder and the Bill Whittle pointer.  Because we should never forget.

What Bill Whittle says is true:  Those astronauts knew the risks, and they flew anyway.

Also true is that NASA worked wonders making the Shuttle fly, somehow, on a budget not nearly enough to do it right.

But they shouldn't have had to.  We should have done it right.  We owed it to the men and women who were going to risk their lives riding it.

And now we're talking about going to Mars.  Will we do it right this time?

We owe that to the memory of the men and women who flew the Shuttle, in full knowledge of the risks, and didn't make it home.

Comments

[wyrdling.livejournal.com]

thanks for the reminder.
i remember reading when the first israeli astronaut went up. that's the only reason i took notice. people had become so routine in their attitudes about these things by then. which i think was part of the problem.
couldn't help but notice when he came down.
particularly as i was living in a town whose major industry revolved around an airbase with space launch facilities. with an uncle working in said facilities. i remember the play by play as they realized there was no way to save them. gut wrenching to remember.

i don't know how we can justify doing something so important, difficult, and dangerous half-assed. i know it's politics and the money game but it still breaks my heart. *sigh*