Challenger, 20 years
Saturday, 28 January 2006 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daHigh Flight, by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
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 wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor 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.
Can it really be twenty years? I was home sick when the Challenger blew up, and I watched it on TV. 6th grade. I was quite the space-exporation nut back then. I think after the Challenger explosion my enthusiasm for manned space-flight diminished; I think I let my Oddysey Magazine subscription lapse that year. My parents were (and are) strongly opposed to manned space-flight on practical grounds, since it was mostly military and a huge expense better spent on other things. But I can remember arguing with them that it was still important, even after the explosion.
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 wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor 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.
Can it really be twenty years? I was home sick when the Challenger blew up, and I watched it on TV. 6th grade. I was quite the space-exporation nut back then. I think after the Challenger explosion my enthusiasm for manned space-flight diminished; I think I let my Oddysey Magazine subscription lapse that year. My parents were (and are) strongly opposed to manned space-flight on practical grounds, since it was mostly military and a huge expense better spent on other things. But I can remember arguing with them that it was still important, even after the explosion.
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no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2006 02:11 am (UTC)Funny, I would have been in sixth grade as well.
I was never a big proponent of manned space flight, nor did I dislike it. I think now, though, we should spend more time exploring our oceans than we do space - more bang for the buck when it comes to practical applications. Nowhere near as sexy though, unless a giant octopus attacks your sub (see the news from the left coast?).
no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2006 06:44 am (UTC)...Hah. no, I hadn't. I suppose it's even sexier if the giant attacking octopus is amorous and senile.
That's funny that we were both home sick from grade 6. ...As I think about it, I'm not certain whether I knew the launch would be on in advance; if I did, it's possible that I was faking being sick so I could watch it...
no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2006 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2006 06:22 pm (UTC)I know I didn't fake sick though; I don't think I even remembered the launch until I saw it exploding.
I do remember though, one rainy morning at public school in Guelph, listening to the live radio broadcast of the very first shuttle launch being piped into our classroom over the intercom.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 29 January 2006 08:35 pm (UTC)