Tonight, I ran across this in a column by John McCaslin and thought it very moving.
Glimpse of heaven
This column has obtained one of Space Shuttle Columbia pilot William C. McCool's final e-mails from space, given to us by one of his former Navy aviator buddies who asks not to be identified: --
"PS - As I write, we just experienced a sunset over the Pacific, just (west) of Chile. I'm sitting on the flight deck in the CDR seat (front right) with a view of the Earth moving gracefully by. Sunsets and sunrises from space come every 45 minutes, and last only about 30 seconds, but the colors are stunning. In a single view, I see looking out at the edge of the Earth - red at the horizon line, blending to orange, then yellow; followed by a thin white line, then light blue, gradually turning to dark blue, then various gradually darker shades of gray, then black with a million stars above. It's breath-taking."
Cmdr. McCool in 1983 graduated second in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy. He went on to receive a master of science degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
McCool logged more than 2,800 hours of flight time in 24 aircraft and more than 400 carrier landings before being selected by NASA and reporting to Johnson Space Center in August 1996.
Glimpse of heaven
This column has obtained one of Space Shuttle Columbia pilot William C. McCool's final e-mails from space, given to us by one of his former Navy aviator buddies who asks not to be identified: --
"PS - As I write, we just experienced a sunset over the Pacific, just (west) of Chile. I'm sitting on the flight deck in the CDR seat (front right) with a view of the Earth moving gracefully by. Sunsets and sunrises from space come every 45 minutes, and last only about 30 seconds, but the colors are stunning. In a single view, I see looking out at the edge of the Earth - red at the horizon line, blending to orange, then yellow; followed by a thin white line, then light blue, gradually turning to dark blue, then various gradually darker shades of gray, then black with a million stars above. It's breath-taking."
Cmdr. McCool in 1983 graduated second in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy. He went on to receive a master of science degree in computer science from the University of Maryland, and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
McCool logged more than 2,800 hours of flight time in 24 aircraft and more than 400 carrier landings before being selected by NASA and reporting to Johnson Space Center in August 1996.
