Jul. 18, 2006 - 20:33 MDT

TRULY GOOD NEWS

Many of us who believe that Man's place is in space and beyond were elated to hear that the shuttle had safely landed.

Quoted in full is an article in this morning's Rocky Mountain News by John Schwartz of The New York Times.

DISCOVERY SMOOTHLY GLIDES BACK TO FLORIDA

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- "With a distinctive double sonic boom and a whooshing glide to the ground, the space shuttle Discovery landed safely Monday."

"THe smooth touchdown ended a 13-day mission that paves the way for completion of the international space station."

"Welcome back, Discovery," Stephen N. Frick, a NASA astronaut communicating with the shuttle from mission control in Houston, said to the shuttle commander, Col. Steven W. Lindsey, after the shuttle had come to a halt."

"This was a great mission, a really great mission," Lindwey replied. "Enjoyed entry and landing."

"The shuttle began its descent about an hour earliler over the Indian Ocean near the coast of Sumatra, firing its jets for what is known as the de-orbit burn."

"Then the shuttle, which had been circling the earth upside down with its engines facing forward, flipped to face its nose forward and its cockpit upward for landing."

"As it entered the atmosphere, superheated gas known as plasma heated the outer surfaces of craft to about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The shuttle executed a series of computer-controlled S-curves that helped it slow to landing speed."

"Those below heard a characteristic twin sonic boom generated by the nose and wings as the shuttle neared the Kennedy Space Center landing strip at supersonic speeds. As spectators stood near the landing strip, the shuttle broke through the cloud layer in the plummeting descent at an angle seven times steeper than commercial airccraft and nearly 20 times as fast."

"Lindsey described the colors of superheated plasma and the light of dawn, saying, "We could see the bright orange glow above, and I could see the Earth moving below."

"Shortly after the inspection, the astronauts lined up in front of the vehicle for a statement by Lindsey. In his four shuttle flights, he said, "I've never seen a vehicle that looked as clean as this one did" upon landing."

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Perhaps I am one of those old codgers, who grew up with Buck Rodgers and disintegrator ray guns and who later in life found out that Lt. Calkins and his co-author of the strip were pulled off the strip because some of their stuff was being too close to what was being developed for our military. An old man who believes he read the first issue of Astounding (which later became Analog) and who read all the other sci-fi magazines he could lay his hands on. Who firmly believes that we belong in space and should develop ways to find and reach habitable planets as soon as possible. As well as finding ways to transport humans en-masse to distant homes on other planets.

Seems to me to make much more sense than to wage pre-emptive war and other wasteful political handball games. Which probably hasten the need to escape polluted Earth.

So, in my book this successful sortie in space to add to the space station is TRULY GOOD NEWS . . . . . . . . . . .

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