Space Shuttle Challenger and Her Crew
We all watched the sky
Excited to see dreams
And advancement
And the hope of a future
Far more splendid than our past
And then the explosion
Startled our vision
The cloud just hung there
A nightmarish stillness
Staring back when we had planned
To be the ones doing the watching
Maybe it was supposed to happen
Maybe we just don’t understand
But, no, coming inside the news confirmed
It was not supposed to happen
And the worst has come true
While a crew did not complete their journey
To space and discovery and to back home
Not every dream died
Not every advancement paused
Seven souls went so much farther
Than most souls dare
Beyond their start in life
Beyond what they dreamed in prior years
Beyond their collective of accomplishments
And service and breakthroughs already achieved
A vision now into the stars
To expanding awareness
Of who we are and all we can do
Lives were lost
But their vision was not
You are never defined by the world you entered into
You are defined by all the ways you can grow in the world you have now
The heroes took advantage of every challenge in earlier life
Refining their skill in the art of overcoming
And when the world grew to offer more opportunities
They were prepared to accomplish them
A mission failed
But their spirits did not
May we never stop exploring
Not just the stars
But the guts it takes to get there.
You’ve got this.
—
Featured image NASA on Wikimedia
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This image is a work of a U.S. military or Department of Defense employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain in the United States.
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