Oh, what a Beautiful Morning!

Published on July 26, 2005 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

I awoke this morning to a beautiful vision.

Not since the landing of the aircraft Voyager, the first aircraft ever to circle the globe without refueling in December, 1986, had I been so proud as an aviation enthusiast as I was this morning when NASA finally quit stalling and launched the space shuttle Discovery into orbit. And, to top it off, the camera attached to the external fuel tank added a new and unique perspective to the whole launch.

This was an important step for NASA. In the wake of tragedy, such as that suffered by the Columbia nearly two and a half years prior, it is always difficult to continue. But continue we can, and we continue we must, for great gains often involve great risks.

It's my prayer that the shuttle will land safely and that the space program will be back on schedule.

Comments

just john

on Jul 26, 2005

I just wish I could have a copy of the fuel tank cam from lift off without a cut away. Maybe the NASA site will have it up later.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 28, 2005

Unfortunately, it looks like they're going to ground the flights for awhile longer because they saw some debris fall off the fuel tank (even though it did no apparent damage). Sad that what is considered an "acceptable risk" for commercial air flight is not considered such for space exploration...you can put the public in danger, but damned if you'll do it to our astronauts!

drmiler

on Jul 28, 2005

Sad that what is considered an "acceptable risk" for commercial air flight is not considered such for space exploration...you can put the public in danger, but damned if you'll do it to our astronauts!

Thats because the 2 vehicles are subject to two "entirely" different working enviorments! Are passenger aircraft subject to re-entry heat build-up? Nope. Do they have to worry about exploding in a vacum? Again nope. If a passenger aircraft suffers from cabin depressurization they can move to a lower altitude. If a space shuttle suffers the same thing, guess what? They're all dead. Come on Gid, I have come to expect a more reasoned responce from you.

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