Why we cried...

[alexpgp]

From Lee's LJ:

Called Dad, cried. I told him I was going to drop off some flowers to NASA, and he asked me to pick some up for him. I bought 14 red roses, and bundled them in pairs of two. I drove out to NASA and paid my respects. I didn't stay long because there were a lot of camera crews and reporters, and I felt that it would be insincere to be filmed mourning the loss I felt greatly, though did not know the people at all. As I left, I began to cry again.

My response:

You may not have known any of Columbia's crew, but unlike 99.9% of the population, you have hung out with astronauts and cosmonauts. You've talked with them at a level that transcends the stuffy environment of the schoolroom or other "official" event. To you, an astronaut is not some kind of abstract entity that one associates with even more abstract concepts such as "scientist," "explorer," or "hero"; they're flesh-and-blood people with a lot of skill and a lot of smarts, often with a sense of humor, and always with a sense of life to kill for.

And when something like Columbia happens, it makes no difference that you didn't actually know the people who cashed it all in. You know the type of people they were, and that is enough.

As for myself, my work with McCool and Husband was probably so insignificant in their schedules as to have caused them to forget I exist soon after we parted company. Frankly, even I've forgotten what, exactly, I did for them, though I do remember having done something. Was it a telecon? I don't remember, really.

However, I think my reaction - the personal one - was grounded in bedrock similar to that of your reaction: I, probably even more than you, know the type of people who died along with Columbia, and that, too, is enough and all anyone could reasonably ask for.

* * *
This photo was taken in April 1996, at a cookout in Mike Baker's back yard. (Left to right, standing: Mike Baker, Lee, Nikolai Budarin, Mike Foale, Talgat Musabaev, Charlie Precourt, Vasiliy Tsibliev. Left to right, kneeling: Victor N. and Jean-Loup Chretien.) Regrettably, I've forgotten Victor's last name; he's a member of the Russian training team. Besides him and Lee, everyone else in the photo is an astronaut or cosmonaut, and Budarin, in fact, is on orbit right now as part of the ISS crew.

Cheers...

Comments

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing your feelings (and that picture) with us. They are personalizing a tragedy that would otherwise be abstract (and I believe that's part of your point).

[taiyosan.livejournal.com]

Thank you A ... now they feel like people and not just names on a radio broadcast.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

You might mention that Nikolai Budarin is a member of the current ISS crew.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

You're right... it's taken care of. :^)

Cheers...