Hell for a Moment

This one has taken years to decipher:

In joy they prepare
To journey far beyond the air.
The Seven I name
In eagerness came
To leave for a while
With not fear, but a smile.
The Challenger Seven's
Aim for the heavens
Was straight, fast, and true
Once more into the blue.
A Teacher to go where she must,
Another man with the star-lust,
Delayed may times, at last he flies.
Second Woman in space heads once more for the skies.
The Captain led them in a prayer
The Helmsman said "God speed us there."
The Two who would have walked as birds in empty space,
On the Twenty-eighth of January, joy on every face.
Waiting for the launch, listening to the lore.
To boldy go where so few have gone before,
To make way for others in space,
To make all winners in the Great Race.
These were the Challenger Seven's noble dreams,
To tell all mankind, space is as it seems.
Though it was Hell for a moment, Heaven's forever.

---Only this poem ends here, the Dream does not.

Dedicated to the Challenger Seven:
Christa, Greg, Dick, Michael, Ronald, Judith, and Ellison, who gave their lives for the Dream.   God take them all.

--Michael Elliott
Phoenix Arizona
January 28th, 1986