  Earth and Bey0nd It is with a heavy heart that I write this. This past 1 of Feb, the dream of thousands was shattered and put on hold, and for the 7 member crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, ended. I always had a fascination with Space. As a young child I would read up on the subject and would stare at the night sky for hours, a habit that I still continue today. In primary school when the Yong Scientist award scheme was introduced, I tried out for 4 different fields but only managed to get the award for astronomy. It was in this interest that I naturally branched out into reading Science Fiction.
I remember that faithful year. I had just turned 7 and it was to be a sign of a life changing year for me. The space program had been going full force with the shuttle project after a successful run on the Apollo program. Morale was high and a fleet of shuttles was commissioned after the successful testing of the Enterprise. Two shuttles had already been put into active duty with another 2 on the way. It was the second shuttle that I watched on TV that day as it climbed into the sky only to end in a fiery 3 part fireball.
The Challenger disaster. It was also a day of firsts, the first teacher was on board and a first step into making space travel more open to the public. Now the first shuttle has followed it's sister and it took along another first. The first Israeli astronaut. In what what was to be a great symbol for peace and unity, ended in a blaze of fiery flame. It does not bode well for mankind.
Nor for the space program. With the hope of a space program to Mars in 2010, there was a hope to take our minds off the troubles on Earth. Of famine, of fear and of war. I had imagined to be able to see mankind living off Earth by the time of my grandchildren, and perhaps have my ashes sent towards the edge of our solar system, in the final eternal journey of discovery. Now it looks like the space program would be set back another 40 years. And with growing tensions planetside, we may never leave earth orbit again.
We may never live among the stars nor be buried in the fields of space, like the heroes before us, who have made it all possible. 
