For Once, I'm Shocked and Saddened That I Was Right

Way back in October, I wrote a brief piece on the Space Shuttle and how I saw it as a disaster waiting to happen. As it turns out, my fears were justified. However, it appears that some small good is going to come from this: to avoid another disaster, Bush has authorized additional funds for the American space program and has resurrected the program to build the next-generation space plane to replace the aging Shuttles.

If you're interested, check out the Time Magazine article posted here for an extremely well-written account of who the astronauts were and what it meant to each of them to be an astronaut. Also, an opinon piece posted here, which makes some very good points, talks about the flaws in the current system and how we should move ahead from now on (although I don't entirely agree with his point of view when it comes to the use of astronauts).

I feel that I should also mention that even though the destruction of Columbia was a terrible tragedy, tragedies happen every day, all around the world -- in wars, in transportation accidents, and in acts of nature, to name a few. Some of these losses of life are preventable, some are not. But the lesson is to try to live your life to its fullest and to keep taking chances, because it's so important to keep growing and learning and moving forward. The crew of Columbia knew that, accepted it, and embraced it. And maybe we all should.