They're HOME!!!!

I can't believe how tense/worried/excited/proud I was this morning as the Space Shuttle Discovery returned from mission STS-114 this morning, landing at 8:05AM EST. For 60 minutes I followed the descent of the orbiter second-by-second - as it fired its rockets to descend from orbit, entered the atmosphere at 14,000 mph, changed its guidance from "space craft" to "air craft" control.

This was a good week for explorers.

6 Russian submariners were trapped 600 feet beneath the sea and rescued during a joint effort with the British. 7 American astronauts were flying 220 miles overhead on the international space station and came home after a 2 1/2 year delay in the shuttle program.

How astounding are these otherwise ordinary men and women who risk everything for us? The things these people are doing, literally all around me, while I struggle to make coffee or finish the laundry, amaze me. These extaordinary people leave the comforts of home, leave even the necessities of air and gravity and heat behind, to learn more about the universe around us.

And this week? What did mankind accomplish? These Russians and Americans who had challenged the impossible conditions of deep sea and deep space to learn for us - they made it HOME! And during their spectacular, broadcast homecomings, they accomplished one more little thing...

...for a few minutes, I forgot that thousands of Americans who are in Iraq to fight for us will never make that same, simple journey - home.