I wrote this poem on the day of the Columbia Shuttle disaster.
"...by the end of the decade,
We'll fly a man to the moon,
And return him safely to earth."
With that statement,
It was no longer sci-fi,
Every childs dream, came alive!
Alan Shepard would open the door,
NASA got us off the floor!
John Glenn made the earth,
A little smaller.
It made our dreams,
A whole lot taller!
"One small step for man,
One giant leap for all manking."
A day that will be remembered,
For all time.
Even the Cold War,
Couldn't stand in the way.
When Soyeuz and Apollo,
Docked in space, it was proof,
There were no countries,
In outer space!
"Houston, we have a problem."
Raised new concerns.
Could we bring them back home?
They were so far away,
And all alone.
We celebrated their return,
And knew, we had more to learn.
It took 22 years,
For blacks and women,
To join the celestial display.
Something, that's commonplace today.
Along the way,
It wasn't always smooth.
In fact, science could be,
Down right cruel.
The Apollo I, launch pad fire,
Was more then we could bare.
Excitement, was replaced with fear.
We wondered, if space travel,
Was worth the dare.
Like Mercury, before them,
Apollo became obsolete.
The shuttle became,
The pride of the fleet.
Their missions became ordinary,
Never out of place.
They took off and returned,
At an astounding pace!
Taken for granted,
No one seemed to care.
Until we heard,
"Challenger, go with throttle up."
Started a new nightmare.
"They touched the face of God,"
The President said.
All we knew, six astronauts,
And a teacher were dead.
Two years on the ground,
NASA made its fleet,
Safe and mechanically sound.
15 years, lifting off,
Without a hitch.
But Columbia, exposed,
A new deadly glitch.
Through the history,
Of space conquest,
The wonderful accomplishments,
And the tragedies,
We've still been blessed.
Every mission, opened a new door.
I hope and pray,
We continue to explore!
"The same Creator,"
Who names the stars,
Also knows the names,
Of the seven souls,
We mourn today."
We'll fly a man to the moon,
And return him safely to earth."
With that statement,
It was no longer sci-fi,
Every childs dream, came alive!
Alan Shepard would open the door,
NASA got us off the floor!
John Glenn made the earth,
A little smaller.
It made our dreams,
A whole lot taller!
"One small step for man,
One giant leap for all manking."
A day that will be remembered,
For all time.
Even the Cold War,
Couldn't stand in the way.
When Soyeuz and Apollo,
Docked in space, it was proof,
There were no countries,
In outer space!
"Houston, we have a problem."
Raised new concerns.
Could we bring them back home?
They were so far away,
And all alone.
We celebrated their return,
And knew, we had more to learn.
It took 22 years,
For blacks and women,
To join the celestial display.
Something, that's commonplace today.
Along the way,
It wasn't always smooth.
In fact, science could be,
Down right cruel.
The Apollo I, launch pad fire,
Was more then we could bare.
Excitement, was replaced with fear.
We wondered, if space travel,
Was worth the dare.
Like Mercury, before them,
Apollo became obsolete.
The shuttle became,
The pride of the fleet.
Their missions became ordinary,
Never out of place.
They took off and returned,
At an astounding pace!
Taken for granted,
No one seemed to care.
Until we heard,
"Challenger, go with throttle up."
Started a new nightmare.
"They touched the face of God,"
The President said.
All we knew, six astronauts,
And a teacher were dead.
Two years on the ground,
NASA made its fleet,
Safe and mechanically sound.
15 years, lifting off,
Without a hitch.
But Columbia, exposed,
A new deadly glitch.
Through the history,
Of space conquest,
The wonderful accomplishments,
And the tragedies,
We've still been blessed.
Every mission, opened a new door.
I hope and pray,
We continue to explore!
"The same Creator,"
Who names the stars,
Also knows the names,
Of the seven souls,
We mourn today."
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