HIGH FLIGHT

51-l-patch

This poem was written by John Gillespie Magee Jr, who was killed in the Battle of Britain at the age of 19.

It was narrated by President Ronald Regan at the funeral service of the gallant Astronauts who were killed in the Challenger Disaster on January 28th 1986.

 

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds -- and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of -- wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

The Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger STS 51-L

Back row from left to right: Mission Specialist Ellison S. Onizuka, Teacher in Space Participant Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist Greg Jarvis and Mission Specialist Judy Resnik. Front row from left to right: Pilot Mike Smith, Commander Dick Scobee and Mission Specialist Ron McNair.

 

[Back to Space Oddities]  [Contents]