| The following column appeared in The River Reporter on January 30, 1986 and was replublished on January 28, 1999. |
By Bert S. Feldman
The Recusant Reporter
Reprinted Thursday, January 28, 1999
The tragedy that befell the space shuttle this week has shaken us all. The death of seven men and women, as well as the destruction of the spacecraft itself, has dramatically brought to our attention the dangers that await those who dare the unknown.
Be proud America, of those seven who dared — Francis "Dick" Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick, Ellison Onizuka, Arnold McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. What other country in the world could produce a list of names such as this — by ancestry British, Oriental, Jewish, Scottish, Irish, yet re-formed in our melting pot into something new — Americans all.
Be proud.
There are some among us who say "of what use is the entire space program? Stop the program, stop spending money foolishly!"
During the first demonstration of airborne flight (by balloon) in America, someone said to wise old Ben Franklin, "Of what use is this foolish expenditure of money?" And Franklin replied, "Of what use is a newborn baby?"
When Christopher Columbus sought to raise money for his expedition to reach the Far East by traveling west, the funding was not forthcoming from his own country, and he had to seek help elsewhere. When other explorers went out to blaze new trails to the New World discovered by Columbus, they were treated with scorn — "Of what use is a new world, covered with forest and inhabited by savages? Of what use is this foolish expenditure of money?"
The search for new frontiers is part of mankind's make-up. Without this questioning, this insatiable curiosity to know what lies beyond the next hill, what causes this disease, whether it is possible to build an aqueduct over the Delaware River strong enough to support a laden boat, can we reach the moon; without this seeking spirit we are as the cattle in the barn — contentedly munching hay.
Space lies out there, space waiting to be conquered. What lies out there in space that we can use for a better tomorrow?
Who knows? Already they can do certain metal fabrication, pharmaceutical preparation and other things that can be done best in a weightless atmosphere. Doctors believe that certain surgery can be best done in a like atmosphere.
And who knows what, or shall we say "whom?," we shall encounter in the infinite reaches of space? What wondrous things they may have to share with us — like Marco Polo in China learning about such diverse things as spaghetti, printing and gunpowder, or Columbus tasting a tuber the natives called a "potato," which was to become the European dietary staple! Jesuit missionaries to South America found that the natives chewed the bark of the chinchona tree to cure malaria — we call it quinine!
For every advance to push back the frontiers of the unknown, for every battle to advance the frontiers of knowledge, soldiers must fall. We have lost seven such soldiers. On January 27, 1967, three other astronauts perished — Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee. The courage, daring and enterprise of these fallen heroes and heroines would be belittled by speaking of cutting those programs which they have so nobly advanced.
It is written by Ecclesiasticus, of the books of the Apostles:
"All these were honored in their generations, and were the glory of their times. There be of them, that have left a name behind then that their praises might be reported Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out. Their bodies are burned in peace, but their name liveth for evermore ... "
