We must get in our spaceships and go

Found this interesting

(from www.spaceref.com: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12681)

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"We must get in our spaceships and go"

Elliot G. Pulham
President &
Chief Executive Officer
[The Space Foundation
http://www.ussf.org/about/about.html
http://www.ussf.org/about/board.html]

Risk takers and dreamers. If you're looking for a few, look no further than
the signatures on the Declaration of Independence. The United States has
always been, and I hope shall forever remain, a nation of dreamers and risk
takers.

Like many Americans, I learned from an early age that nothing worth having
comes easy. Dedication. Perspiration. Risk. These are the things. Vince
Lombardi's exhortation about what it means to lie exhausted, victorious, on
the field of battle. Teddy Roosevelt's aversion to those "timid souls" who,
because they fail to "dare greatly" know neither victory nor defeat. Such is
the stuff we are made of.

With the release of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, the
"timid souls" and risk averse are with us once more. Human space flight
isn't worth the risk, they say.

Bull.

[Go to the web site at the link, above, for the rest]

From Jon Berndt:
Found this interesting

(from www.spaceref.com: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12681)

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"We must get in our spaceships and go"

Elliot G. Pulham
snip

I agree with the general sentiment (let's get back up on the horse
after it's bucked). But I would caution against this comparison
given:

______

In the eight months since Columbia was lost, more than 30,000
Americans have been killed on our nation's roads and highways. I have
not seen a single editorial cry for the abandonment of automotive
transportation. We know the risks. We get in our cars, and we go.

Space calls us. We must make no excuses. We must get in our spaceships
- and go.
______

Even Elliot might reconsider ever getting into another car if one in
every sixty or so trips ended in explosive death, no survivors.

Both Dick and Rick's crews could have used Ralph Nader's help in
authoring a wake up call for NASA safety...

"Unsafe At Any Mach."


~ CT

(Stuf4) wrote:

In the eight months since Columbia was lost, more than 30,000
Americans have been killed on our nation's roads and highways. I have
not seen a single editorial cry for the abandonment of automotive
transportation. We know the risks. We get in our cars, and we go.

The radical environmentalist/transit groups are constantly
editorializing against the automobile.

In the eight months since Columbia was lost, more than 30,000
Americans have been killed on our nation's roads and highways. I

True but lets atr least be careful and not rush a return to flight! Remember
Columbia and Challenger were more management failures than hardware. Lets fix
BOTH so we dont meet here discussing yet another loss