President Bush addresses Nation on space shuttle Columbia tragedy

My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.

In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.

美國(guó)同胞們，今天我們接到噩耗，全國(guó)沉浸在巨大的悲痛中。今天早上九點(diǎn)，休斯頓控制中心失去了同我們的「哥倫比亞號(hào)」航天飛機(jī)的聯(lián)系。此后不久，人們看到殘骸從得克薩斯州上空落下?！父鐐惐葋喬?hào)」失事了;無(wú)一人生還。

機(jī)上的七名機(jī)組成員是：里克·赫斯本德(Rick Husband)空軍上校;邁克爾·安德森(Michael Anderson)空軍中校;勞雷爾·克拉克(Laurel Clark)海軍中校;戴維·布朗(David Brown)海軍上校;威廉·麥庫(kù)爾(William McCool)海軍中校;卡爾帕納·舒拉(Kalpana Chawla)博士和以色列空軍上校伊蘭·拉蒙(Ilan Ramon)。這些男女宇航員為造福全人類而承擔(dān)了巨大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。

在太空飛行似乎已基本成為常規(guī)作業(yè)的時(shí)代，人們易于忽視乘坐火箭飛行的危險(xiǎn)和在險(xiǎn)惡的地球外層空間飛行的難度。這些宇航員懂得這些危險(xiǎn)，而且甘心情愿地面對(duì)這些危險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)樗麄冎郎杏兄h(yuǎn)大而崇高的目標(biāo)。正是因?yàn)樗麄兊挠職狻⒛懽R(shí)和理想主義精神，我們會(huì)更加懷念他們。

今天，所有美國(guó)人的思緒也都伸向經(jīng)受了這種突如其來(lái)的震驚和悲傷的宇航員的家人。你們不是孤獨(dú)的。我們整個(gè)國(guó)家和你們一同哀悼。你們所愛(ài)的人將永遠(yuǎn)得到美國(guó)的尊敬和感激。

他們?yōu)橹I(xiàn)身的事業(yè)將繼續(xù)下去。人類是在探索精神和求知欲望的引導(dǎo)下，超越我們的世界，進(jìn)入黑暗的未知空間。我們的太空之旅將繼續(xù)下去。

今天，我們?cè)诳罩锌吹降氖菤绾捅瘎?。但在我們的視野之外存在著安慰和希望。先知以賽亞說(shuō)："你們向上舉目，看誰(shuí)創(chuàng)造這萬(wàn)象?他逐一領(lǐng)出爍爍繁星，一一稱其名。因?yàn)樗拇罅θ埽粋€(gè)都不缺。"