"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Barbara Morgan Resumes Christa McAuliffe's Journey into Space

An emotional moment at 6:36 this evening, as Endeavor lifted off from Cape Canaveral into space. It carried a teacher in its crew - Barbara Morgan, age 55, who trained along with Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died on the Challenger in 1986.

Gifted teachers. Not just imparting wisdom to their students. Imparting wisdom to the whole human species, by flying as our emissaries out into space.

Emissaries of a species - as far as we know, unique on this planet, and likely unique in this solar system, and maybe beyond - who yearn to go beyond where we were born. A species that looks up to the sky, cosmic toddlers that we are now, and wonders what is out there, and what role we have to play in that future.

Teachers usually convey knowledge that others have discovered. Christa McAuliffe was set to discover and convey what she saw in the beginning of the vast world of space beyond our planet- when her journey was interrupted.

Barbara Morgan resumed that journey a few hours ago. We all wait back here on Earth, eyes to the sky, to learn from her vision.







Realspace by Paul Levinson
dedicated to the crews of Challenger and Columbia

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