oh shit....

[kitanzi]

NASA lost contact with the shuttle, about 16 minutes before it was due to land. Now they're doing what sure as hell sounds like eulogies for the astronauts on CNN and reporting debris has fallen.... I think we lost another one. Oh, fuck.
Edit: Yeah, it's dead. CNN has eyewitnesses up the wazoo, and video of it shredding itself as it falls like a shower of shooting stars. No use in wishing on these, though. We lost them...

Comments

Again

[(Anonymous)]

When Lois and I were in Florida for the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention, we didn't
go home when the con ended. We drove toward Cape Canaveral and saw a space shuttle
launch. ("It's real, not live on TV"!) Then we went to the Kennedy Space Center to visit,
among other things, the Astronaut Memorial.

The names of the seventeen U.S. astronauts who had given their lives for space exploration
are carved into the face of a polished black granite monolith. This massive structure moves
ever so slowly, powered by (in part), and tracking the movement of, the sun across the sky.
The astronauts' names glow on its surface. On first sight, its effect on us was quick and
awe-ful. Viewing it up close made it that much more profound and moving.

And now, regretfully but inevitably, that list will grow by seven. Far too many of our
stepping stones to the stars are grave stones.

If any of you are ever in Florida, I strongly recommend stopping by and paying respects.
Sing a song (or two) in grateful memory. But that isn't much help today, is it?

[mood: Grieving. Again.]
[antidote: Diana Gallagher's "Fly, Columbia!"]
[antidote: Leslie Fish's "A Toast For Unknown Heroes"]
[antidote: Aw, hell. Get your hands on a copy of the "Minus Ten And Counting" songbook,
open it to a random page and sing a song (or two)]

Paul Mangan

Re: Again

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

Actually, singing is just what we did - including from Minus Ten and Counting. It helped.