CHALLENGER OF FATE

One never knows when to be blasé,
In 1986 we felt that way,

First teacher to be launched into outer space
Was lost in the ocean -- NASA hid its face,

Those big booster rockets with which we felt secure
Became a horrid problem for designers to cure,

Twelve years later, Glenn's reenactment proved
That a public, once again blasé and unmoved,

Could manage a proud and joyful "Well done" again,
To original "Right stuff" -- orbiting septuagenarian.

by D. Edgar Murray