| Title: | Space Exploration |
| Notice: | Shuttle launch schedules, see Note 6 |
| Moderator: | PRAGMA::GRIFFIN |
| Created: | Mon Feb 17 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 974 |
| Total number of notes: | 18843 |
Reprinted from this mornings batch of news.
Rick
-----------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: net.space,net.columbia
Path: decwrl!pyramid!ut-sally!seismo!rlgvax!hadron!klr
Subject: Poem found at NASM in DC Sunday 2/2/86
Posted: 4 Feb 86 18:50:32 GMT
Organization: Hadron, Inc., Fairfax, VA
Xref: decwrl net.space:4529 net.columbia:1880
References:
We went to see the Astronauts Memorial at the National Air and Space
Museum (NASM) in Washington DC on SUnday. The attached poem had been
left there that morning. There were also numerous flowers and a St.
Christopher medal that someone had left. I spoke with the NASM
information office, and she says that items like these are being left
there daily. They collect them each night, and more appear the next
morning.
THE EIGHTH SEAT
Making your way among Golden Adventures
You sought out the trail that would bring you fulfillment -
Sought out the trail that would lead to your dreams -
Dreams you made real as they challenged your spirit.
Willow-winding paths chosen ever so carefully
So much left to fate (will it deal with us kindly?)
Star-Chasers all, you have captured our vision -
Took us along as you crept ever higher
To seek out the trail that would lead to your dreams -
Though we stayed behind, all our souls rode with you,
You faced the danger as we watched below,
Oh, how could we know?
Cautiously Onward you trekked ever deeper
Into the recesses of life's Golden Caverns
Ever revealing the farther you travelled
The warmer the glimmer of life's Golden Secrets -
Life's Golden Secrets not many can see,
You shared them with me.
Godspeed, Precious Seven, we long to reach upward
To bring you back home and hold you to breast.
You've tempered our judgement with terrible wisdom -
Wisdom we'll use as we finish your quest.
Star-Chasers all, as I search the night sky,
I know you'll never die.
Richard Bell
Arlington, Virginia
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 140.1 | LYMPH::INGRAHAM | Fri Feb 07 1986 12:31 | 26 | ||
The night of Challenger's explosion (Tuesday, 28-JAN) President Reagan made an address to the nation paying tribute to the Challenger crew. His final comments came from the well-known poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr, who was a 19-year old American killed in the Battle of Brittain flying a Spitfire for the Royal Canadian Air Force (according to Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot, in "Carrying the Fire"). Most people reading this notes file probably know the poem, but I offer it here for those who don't -- it also is a fine tribute to the Challenger crew, and all those in danger in the air. 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 halls of air. Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even 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. | |||||