Seeing Wonders in
Usual Phenomena
In 1957, Russia sent its first Sputnik satellite into space. In 1981, America sent its first space shuttle, Columbia, into space, with two people on board. It was made in such a way that it could be used for around a hundred space journeys.
Columbia weighed around 75 tonnes. It cost a huge amount of money. It took nine years to construct. It travelled in space at a speed of 26,000 miles per hour, remaining in space for 54 hours, and revolving around the Earth 36 times. It traversed a total distance of around 10,00,000 miles and then returned to Earth, landing in the Californian desert. When it entered the atmosphere on its way back to Earth, the friction that it encountered caused its outside frame to shoot up to an astounding 1,15,000 degrees Celsius, but arrangements had been made to maintain a comfortable temperature inside for the two people on board. The shuttle landed at almost exactly the appointed time – with a difference of just 10 seconds! Some 200,000 people gathered to see Columbia land. Besides, millions more saw the event on television.
John Young was one of the two people on board that Columbia flight. After being in a state of weightlessness for many hours, he was so stunned on returning back to Earth that he burst out:
What a way to come to California!
John Young found all of this astounding – travelling in space in a shuttle and then landing in California in this fashion, and so on. But the fact of the matter is that, actually, every single thing in this world is astounding! Every journey, whether on foot or in a vehicle or in a space shuttle, entails so many factors and cosmic causes that if you really think about it, an ordinary journey can seem so amazing that you will cry out, “My walking, on my two feet, from one place to another is as amazing as travelling in the Columbia shuttle into space and landing in the Californian desert!”
Most people are struck only by the wonders of unusual events. A truly intelligent person is one who sees wonders even in seemingly ordinary or usual phenomena.
