It Was A Clear Morning, Exactly 39 Years Ago, As I Flew Out Of Miami... Headed To The Outer Abacos, On A Small Twin Prop...

And. . . I think I was largely unaware that NASA's shuttle program was launching Challenger, again -- that morning (the launches were becoming more or less routine). . . we were shocked, mid-air, to look backward, out toward Florida -- from about 300 miles down-range. . . and see a horrifying but crystal clear plume of white smoke, at about 46,000 feet, overhead.

All the lil' puddle-hopper pilot could muster. . . was "that doesn't look. . . good."

He was certainly right. When we landed at a small airstrip, an hour or so later, to board the sailboat -- for the Outer Abacos, we saw on network TV there in the airstrip offices. . . that all seven shuttle astronauts were dead.

That was a very somber way. . . to start a long awaited break from big law, on the high tropical seas, indeed. [Next year -- I will post in great detail, on the fortieth year, since that tragic day.] Yet and still, we all must move forward, even against longish odds -- on all science fronts. Especially. . . now. This too, is a time of. . . chaos.

But it is chaos, of a different kind, to be sure, this time -- entirely man made. Onward.

नमस्ते