I felt the same sense of disbelief and unreality as I felt when I first heard the Challenger had exploded on takeoff. It's so easy, with all our successes, to forget how many risks these brave men and women take each time they board a shuttle.I may sit and watch it all from my comfortable sofa, but I share the dreams of those who take the risks. We need to be in space, we need to reach beyond the known and into the unknown, and we need to explore our universe to discover who we really are.
I feel so much shared grief with those families who lost their heros on Columbia. Such loss is not easily accepted, yet accept it we must.
I've heard people talk about the potential blow to NASA. That made me angry. We should not sacrifice the lives of our best and brightest in vain. We should not give up on the ideals which founded NASA.
I wrote a letter to my US Senator and enclosed a check for $20 for NASA. It occurred to me that if each American contributed $20 to NASA, they would have the money to build a New Columbia that might colonize the moon and put men on Mars. I also thought it would be appropriate to place some momento on the New Columbia shuttle of those who sacrificed so that their spirit of exploration can continue to play a part in our future in space. Their current journey may have ended, but we can ensure that their spirit lives on in our future explorations by including some small symbol of their spirit on each new journey.
With all the difficult things the US is facing now, it's so important to cling to our dreams and our idealism. What better way than to reach toward the stars?