interesting arabic editorial on columbia crasn

[Guest guest]

Being the journalist i am, I like periodically going through foreign press &

newspaper websites for international perspective on major stories. This

editorial was posted on arabnews.com (saudi's main english daily newspaper).

Makes for interesting reading.

 

Megan

 

Columbia crash

Arab News Editorial 2 February 2003

 

 

 

The destruction of the NASA space shuttle Columbia is a tragedy which affects us

all. The reason why, other than common humanity, the burden of grief should be

shared across the world is that space is a frontier across which all peoples of

the globe must push, not just a handful of countries with leading technologies.

 

It will probably be a long time before the precise cause of the shuttle's

disintegration, 200,000 feet above Texas, as it glided at 12,000 mph toward

landing, will be known. When, almost 17 years ago to the day, the shuttle

Challenger exploded on take off, NASA mounted a minute investigation of the

disaster, which took months to complete and discovered a design flaw. All

shuttle flights were stopped for almost two-and-a-half years. Yesterday, the

Americans were quick to discount terrorism as the cause of this tragedy. It

certainly seems highly unlikely. What is more likely is that human error is

responsible. Each NASA shuttle flight with the normal crew complement of seven

or eight astronauts has behind it around 10,000 individuals who stay on the

ground. Though safety and checking procedures were tightened up after the

Challenger crash, it remains a harsh fact that with so many people involved in

such hugely complex technology, mistakes will be made.

 

Space exploration is hardly headline news these days. For Israel and India, both

of whom had provided a crew member each, the trip will, of course, have been

front-page news. However, only a fraction of the rest of the world's population

probably knew that Columbia was due yesterday to glide down across the United

States to land in Florida, at the end of a 16-day mission. Even fewer probably

realize that there are now still three astronauts on the International Space

Station, who will probably have to be brought down by a Soyuz mission rather

than a NASA shuttle.

 

It is highly probable that yesterday's crash will cause a major setback in the

ISS program. Even if another design flaw is not found to be at the heart of the

Columbia wreck, it is certain that the other shuttles will be grounded for at

least a year. Columbia was, in fact, the oldest ship in NASA's shuttle fleet,

built in 1981, five years before the Challenger tragedy. Though extensively

refitted several times, most recently with a new cockpit, some sort of

structural fatigue seems a strong possibility. It may well be that scientists

still have much to learn about the huge stresses placed on metal which has to

endure phenomenal stresses at launch and re-entry as well as the unique

pressures of life in orbital space.

 

The immediate lesson remains, however, that this is a tragedy for everyone, not

just the United States, India and Israel. We have all lost in this disaster. A

technological challenge has been thrown down and once again, a warning given

that in the unforgiving region of space, nothing can be taken for granted. The

solutions may be a long time coming.

 

They will come. The struggle to conquer the space will go on. All that we can

hope for is that, when the battle is won, the knowledge gained in the process

will add to human happiness, not to human misery.

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thank you for sharing. Those of us here in Texas will

never forget this tragedy. My MIL in East Texas

actually heard the explosion. She refused to leave

the house to look for debris...She was so shaken that

she, in her words, " heard 7 people blow up "

 

I feel so bad for the families. The only comfort I

can see is knowing that they pursued their dreams and

actually made it to space. The Challenger group

didn't even make it that far. Very sad then, very sad

now.

Warmly,

Allison

 

--- Megan Milligan <yasminduran wrote:

> Being the journalist i am, I like periodically going

> through foreign press & newspaper websites for

> international perspective on major stories. This

> editorial was posted on arabnews.com (saudi's main

> english daily newspaper). Makes for interesting

> reading.

>

> Megan

>

> Columbia crash

> Arab News Editorial 2 February 2003

>

>

>

> The destruction of the NASA space shuttle Columbia

> is a tragedy which affects us all. The reason why,

> other than common humanity, the burden of grief

> should be shared across the world is that space is a

> frontier across which all peoples of the globe must

> push, not just a handful of countries with leading

> technologies.

>

> It will probably be a long time before the precise

> cause of the shuttle's disintegration, 200,000 feet

> above Texas, as it glided at 12,000 mph toward

> landing, will be known. When, almost 17 years ago to

> the day, the shuttle Challenger exploded on take

> off, NASA mounted a minute investigation of the

> disaster, which took months to complete and

> discovered a design flaw. All shuttle flights were

> stopped for almost two-and-a-half years. Yesterday,

> the Americans were quick to discount terrorism as

> the cause of this tragedy. It certainly seems highly

> unlikely. What is more likely is that human error is

> responsible. Each NASA shuttle flight with the

> normal crew complement of seven or eight astronauts

> has behind it around 10,000 individuals who stay on

> the ground. Though safety and checking procedures

> were tightened up after the Challenger crash, it

> remains a harsh fact that with so many people

> involved in such hugely complex technology, mistakes

> will be made.

>

> Space exploration is hardly headline news these

> days. For Israel and India, both of whom had

> provided a crew member each, the trip will, of

> course, have been front-page news. However, only a

> fraction of the rest of the world's population

> probably knew that Columbia was due yesterday to

> glide down across the United States to land in

> Florida, at the end of a 16-day mission. Even fewer

> probably realize that there are now still three

> astronauts on the International Space Station, who

> will probably have to be brought down by a Soyuz

> mission rather than a NASA shuttle.

>

> It is highly probable that yesterday's crash will

> cause a major setback in the ISS program. Even if

> another design flaw is not found to be at the heart

> of the Columbia wreck, it is certain that the other

> shuttles will be grounded for at least a year.

> Columbia was, in fact, the oldest ship in NASA's

> shuttle fleet, built in 1981, five years before the

> Challenger tragedy. Though extensively refitted

> several times, most recently with a new cockpit,

> some sort of structural fatigue seems a strong

> possibility. It may well be that scientists still

> have much to learn about the huge stresses placed on

> metal which has to endure phenomenal stresses at

> launch and re-entry as well as the unique pressures

> of life in orbital space.

>

> The immediate lesson remains, however, that this is

> a tragedy for everyone, not just the United States,

> India and Israel. We have all lost in this disaster.

> A technological challenge has been thrown down and

> once again, a warning given that in the unforgiving

> region of space, nothing can be taken for granted.

> The solutions may be a long time coming.

>

> They will come. The struggle to conquer the space

> will go on. All that we can hope for is that, when

> the battle is won, the knowledge gained in the

> process will add to human happiness, not to human

> misery.

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

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[Guest guest]

Thanks, Megan, for sharing the editorial. Sometimes we are so detached

from other countries views on things...it seems like its " ALL ABOUT

US " unfortunately.

 

Rose

 

 

 

, Allison Nations

<allyanne2001> wrote:

> Thank you for sharing. Those of us here in Texas will

> never forget this tragedy. My MIL in East Texas

> actually heard the explosion. She refused to leave

> the house to look for debris...She was so shaken that

> she, in her words, " heard 7 people blow up "

>

> I feel so bad for the families. The only comfort I

> can see is knowing that they pursued their dreams and

> actually made it to space. The Challenger group

> didn't even make it that far. Very sad then, very sad

> now.

> Warmly,

> Allison

>

> --- Megan Milligan <yasminduran@l...> wrote:

> > Being the journalist i am, I like periodically going

> > through foreign press & newspaper websites for

> > international perspective on major stories. This

> > editorial was posted on arabnews.com (saudi's main

> > english daily newspaper). Makes for interesting

> > reading.

> >

> > Megan

> >

> > Columbia crash

> > Arab News Editorial 2 February 2003

> >

> >

> >

> > The destruction of the NASA space shuttle Columbia

> > is a tragedy which affects us all. The reason why,

> > other than common humanity, the burden of grief

> > should be shared across the world is that space is a

> > frontier across which all peoples of the globe must

> > push, not just a handful of countries with leading

> > technologies.

> >

> > It will probably be a long time before the precise

> > cause of the shuttle's disintegration, 200,000 feet

> > above Texas, as it glided at 12,000 mph toward

> > landing, will be known. When, almost 17 years ago to

> > the day, the shuttle Challenger exploded on take

> > off, NASA mounted a minute investigation of the

> > disaster, which took months to complete and

> > discovered a design flaw. All shuttle flights were

> > stopped for almost two-and-a-half years. Yesterday,

> > the Americans were quick to discount terrorism as

> > the cause of this tragedy. It certainly seems highly

> > unlikely. What is more likely is that human error is

> > responsible. Each NASA shuttle flight with the

> > normal crew complement of seven or eight astronauts

> > has behind it around 10,000 individuals who stay on

> > the ground. Though safety and checking procedures

> > were tightened up after the Challenger crash, it

> > remains a harsh fact that with so many people

> > involved in such hugely complex technology, mistakes

> > will be made.

> >

> > Space exploration is hardly headline news these

> > days. For Israel and India, both of whom had

> > provided a crew member each, the trip will, of

> > course, have been front-page news. However, only a

> > fraction of the rest of the world's population

> > probably knew that Columbia was due yesterday to

> > glide down across the United States to land in

> > Florida, at the end of a 16-day mission. Even fewer

> > probably realize that there are now still three

> > astronauts on the International Space Station, who

> > will probably have to be brought down by a Soyuz

> > mission rather than a NASA shuttle.

> >

> > It is highly probable that yesterday's crash will

> > cause a major setback in the ISS program. Even if

> > another design flaw is not found to be at the heart

> > of the Columbia wreck, it is certain that the other

> > shuttles will be grounded for at least a year.

> > Columbia was, in fact, the oldest ship in NASA's

> > shuttle fleet, built in 1981, five years before the

> > Challenger tragedy. Though extensively refitted

> > several times, most recently with a new cockpit,

> > some sort of structural fatigue seems a strong

> > possibility. It may well be that scientists still

> > have much to learn about the huge stresses placed on

> > metal which has to endure phenomenal stresses at

> > launch and re-entry as well as the unique pressures

> > of life in orbital space.

> >

> > The immediate lesson remains, however, that this is

> > a tragedy for everyone, not just the United States,

> > India and Israel. We have all lost in this disaster.

> > A technological challenge has been thrown down and

> > once again, a warning given that in the unforgiving

> > region of space, nothing can be taken for granted.

> > The solutions may be a long time coming.

> >

> > They will come. The struggle to conquer the space

> > will go on. All that we can hope for is that, when

> > the battle is won, the knowledge gained in the

> > process will add to human happiness, not to human

> > misery.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> >

> >

>

>

>

>

> Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

> http://mailplus.

[Guest guest]

I'll be the first to admit I'm ethnocentric a lot of the time ( & a moderate

registered republican), but stuff like that at least helps me keep my head

screwed on straight & from developing too much tunnel vision.

 

Megan

 

" Excesses are eventually their own undoing, and that keeps me hopeful. "

-- Paul Harvey on the state of media today (Larry King Live - 1/30/2003)

 

-

 

Thanks, Megan, for sharing the editorial. Sometimes we are so detached

from other countries views on things...it seems like its " ALL ABOUT

US " unfortunately.

 

Rose

[Guest guest]

I'm wondering if my mom & dad may have heard anything. They live in Oklahoma

just outside OKC. My aunt lives in Dallas. Mum was going to call her see if

she was okay.

 

Megan

 

" Excesses are eventually their own undoing, and that keeps me hopeful. "

-- Paul Harvey on the state of media today (Larry King Live - 1/30/2003)

-

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing. Those of us here in Texas will

never forget this tragedy. My MIL in East Texas

actually heard the explosion. She refused to leave

the house to look for debris...She was so shaken that

she, in her words, " heard 7 people blow up "

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

oh boy, I have a feeling i'm going to get some angry replies for this

post. that's fine, but just remember this is only my opinion and you

all have a right to disagree with it or inform me of some fact which

i have overlooked or am unaware of.

 

I sympathize with the loved ones of those who died in the crash, of

course, death is rarely good news to me. There have of course been

lots of murders that haven't made the headlines. But i'd like to

express my many qualms with the space program. Tragedies like these

could be avoided and precious money be saved if we buried it.

 

here's why i don't think it's so great: First, it seems the primary

purpose of space voyages is a military one. we already know how

super dave feels about the military. Second, rocket launches cause a

tremendous amount of pollution- i think i read a rough analogy of the

equivalent of the average annual exhaust of 100,000 cars. Third, if

we started taking better care of our planet, there'd be no need to

fantasize about colonizing mars. My future father-law-in is a big

space buff and insists that we'll be able to within 50 years or so.

But if we keep living the wasteful polluting way we do, moving to

mars will just delay society's inevitable downfall. Fourth, the

space program is just one more domain which nations feel the need to

compete; if we ever want to live in a peaceful world, we have to stop

competing with everyone; i know i sound like a damned pinko, but oh

well.

 

and I know some kids grow up dreaming of seeing the earth from the

moon's surface but well the earth would look a helluva lot prettier

if we stopped sending out people in giant smog factories to look at

it. so can anyone tell me any benefits of the space program?

 

 

, " Megan Milligan "

<yasminduran@l...> wrote:

> I'll be the first to admit I'm ethnocentric a lot of the time ( & a

moderate

> registered republican), but stuff like that at least helps me keep

my head

> screwed on straight & from developing too much tunnel vision.

>

> Megan

>

> " Excesses are eventually their own undoing, and that keeps me

hopeful. "

> -- Paul Harvey on the state of media today (Larry King Live -

1/30/2003)

>

> -

>

> Thanks, Megan, for sharing the editorial. Sometimes we are so

detached

> from other countries views on things...it seems like its " ALL ABOUT

> US " unfortunately.

>

> Rose

[Guest guest]

eh, i dunno, i pretty much totally agree with

everything you said,

 

except you left out the part about conservative old

white men spearheading projects to 'conquer' the dark

and foreign places on a god given quest while riding

big phallic shaped, ivory coloured rockets.

 

 

sigh...

k

--- " dave <dave4sale " <dave4sale

wrote:

> oh boy, I have a feeling i'm going to get some angry

> replies for this

> post. that's fine, but just remember this is only my

> opinion and you

> all have a right to disagree with it or inform me of

> some fact which

> i have overlooked or am unaware of.

>

> I sympathize with the loved ones of those who died

> in the crash, of

> course, death is rarely good news to me. There have

> of course been

> lots of murders that haven't made the headlines.

> But i'd like to

> express my many qualms with the space program.

> Tragedies like these

> could be avoided and precious money be saved if we

> buried it.

>

> here's why i don't think it's so great: First, it

> seems the primary

> purpose of space voyages is a military one. we

> already know how

> super dave feels about the military. Second, rocket

> launches cause a

> tremendous amount of pollution- i think i read a

> rough analogy of the

> equivalent of the average annual exhaust of 100,000

> cars. Third, if

> we started taking better care of our planet, there'd

> be no need to

> fantasize about colonizing mars. My future

> father-law-in is a big

> space buff and insists that we'll be able to within

> 50 years or so.

> But if we keep living the wasteful polluting way we

> do, moving to

> mars will just delay society's inevitable downfall.

> Fourth, the

> space program is just one more domain which nations

> feel the need to

> compete; if we ever want to live in a peaceful

> world, we have to stop

> competing with everyone; i know i sound like a

> damned pinko, but oh

> well.

>

> and I know some kids grow up dreaming of seeing the

> earth from the

> moon's surface but well the earth would look a

> helluva lot prettier

> if we stopped sending out people in giant smog

> factories to look at

> it. so can anyone tell me any benefits of the space

> program?

>

>

> , " Megan

> Milligan "

> <yasminduran@l...> wrote:

> > I'll be the first to admit I'm ethnocentric a lot

> of the time ( & a

> moderate

> > registered republican), but stuff like that at

> least helps me keep

> my head

> > screwed on straight & from developing too much

> tunnel vision.

> >

> > Megan

> >

> > " Excesses are eventually their own undoing, and

> that keeps me

> hopeful. "

> > -- Paul Harvey on the state of media today (Larry

> King Live -

> 1/30/2003)

> >

> > -

> >

> > Thanks, Megan, for sharing the editorial.

> Sometimes we are so

> detached

> > from other countries views on things...it seems

> like its " ALL ABOUT

> > US " unfortunately.

> >

> > Rose

>

>

 

 

=====

 

Where is this beauty?

 

I search and search and then find,

 

We are the lotus.

 

 

 

Om Mani Padme Hum

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.

[Guest guest]

Why would you think people would get angry over your opinion? I think

you

raised some very interesting points and you have obviously given this

issue

a lot of thought.

 

~ feral ~

 

I work daily to become a stronger and more self-aware person.Ê I

will be

neither surprised nor afraid if and when my present world of beliefs

and

opinions comes tumbling down.Ê This is both good and

necessary.Ê Then, on

the cleared space, I can build a new self made of wisdom and quietude.

~ Vernon Howard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

, " dave <dave4sale> " <

dave4sale> wrote:

> oh boy, I have a feeling i'm going to get some angry replies for

this

> post. that's fine, but just remember this is only my opinion and

you

> all have a right to disagree with it or inform me of some fact

which

> i have overlooked or am unaware of.

<snip>

Tragedies like these could be avoided and precious money be saved

if we

buried it.

>

>First, it seems the primary purpose of space voyages is a military

one.

Second, rocket launches cause a tremendous amount of pollution- i

think i

read a rough analogy of the equivalent of the average annual exhaust

of

100,000 cars.

Third, if we started taking better care of our planet, there'd be no

need to

> fantasize about colonizing mars.

Fourth, the space program is just one more domain which nations

feel the

need to compete; if we ever want to live in a peaceful world, we

have to stop

> competing with everyone

[Guest guest]

Hi, Dave4,

 

I'm wondering here about who you are referring to as " Super Dave. " It may

not have been obvious to you but Allison has repeatedly used that name when

addressing you. Also, see her later use of " super D " when responding to

you. It's not big deal to me just FYI.

 

Re: space flight, I can take it or leave. Don't really care one way or

another. I know it's a huge source of national pride. I see it like the

many sports teams, a source of pride in a world nearly gone mad. My pride

is for living in a better world, one which is still a good distance away.

 

Re: the military, I honor only those who serve, those who put their life on

the line. I do not honor those at the top who deceive and manipulate us for

the gain of a few. And, I will gladly accept that flaw in our military to

avoid the rampaging armies that savaged the civilian populations if Asia and

Europe during WWI and has also done so in a number of sad sitiations over

the past 25 years.

 

DaveO

 

 

 

 

 

dave <dave4sale [dave4sale]

 

>>[re space expoloration] here's why i don't think it's so great: First, it

seems the primary purpose of space voyages is a military one. we already

know how " super dave " feels about the military...<<