Certain images burn into your memory and capture a generation. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was one of those. The astronauts of today are our pioneers, daring to cross into the unknown to discover what lies ahead of for all of us. The seven crew members of the Challenger were such intrepid travelers. Today we remember the ultimate price they paid to extend our knowledge of the unknown. I wanted to share a photographic triptych I created in February of 2003 after the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon entrance into Earth's atmosphere. It speaks of the wonder of space, the infantile knowledge we hold of the vast universe and our continuing quest for the future. I used images of the disasters and my children, along with those from the Pearl, located in Reykjavik, Iceland, training site of the first American astronauts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the brave crew and also to our current astronauts who daily face the challenges of space.
image © 2003 Beth A. Seal
"Space the final frontier" and "Beam me up Scotty", both from Star Trek have been a part of my imaginary for a long long time. The first time the space shuttle went to space we, in Portugal, followed it, amazed as we first were by man walking on the moon (I was to young but followed all the images in later years, on TV). That awful tragedy, again, was folloed on TV by us portuguese, truly sorry that such an amazing idea had such a tragic ending. I dream one day of a portuguese going to space, like once we set out in the oceans around the world in the 15th and 16th centuries, but that will not be in my lifetime, for sure. Loved the post!
ReplyDeleteHugs from Portugal
Paula Nunes Lima