Quick non-sports stuff

Just wanted to mention a link real quick, though I may have some more stuff later on.

Sally Ride said she heard "echoes" of the Challenger problems when she was on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. As NASA prepares to go back into space, a shuttle mission that, for its parameters, would otherwise be ignored profusely by most of America is getting tons of publicity and attention, and will probably lead most newscasts over the next week or so. It's far too early to predict that this level of attention will continue for future shuttle missions (though I doubt it), but perhaps one of the small bits of benefit that have come out of the disaster in Feb. 2003 is that now people have at least a little interest in one of the country's finest and most important endeavors.

The space program has always been battling for front pages and government dollars, even when it reached out to goals we thought weren't possible. It will likely always have to fight this battle in a country more concerned with oil prices and red state/blue state skirmishes. However, as NASA tries to get back on its feet in a truly remarkable way - let's remember, there really is very little that is routine about shooting people into space - perhaps the resultant curiosity, whether it is highway rubbernecking or true, intelligent interest, will last a little longer, and honor some of the bravest and most ambitious people that the United States have ever produced. I'm certainly not insisting that we stay glued to our television sets for pre-arranged orbit corrective burns, the way we did for every step of the moon race in the late 1960s. But perhaps, with a little good timing, some quality marketing, and a very successful mission this week and next, we can finally begin to realize the true value of NASA and its admirable personnel.