"What do you mean by that?" she asked, as if I had somehow insulted her next of kin with the comment.

Yet I didn't mean it negatively at all. We have to understand, and try to see, that arrogance isn't always a bad thing. Arrogance, as long as it has a basis in fact, is not only acceptable, but necessary for the very survival of any species. Arrogance is simply the strongest form of confidence. We were arrogant to think we could fly at all. We were arrogant to think we could study and understand the stars. We were arrogant to think we could actually leave this planet, when simple gravity tells us in no uncertain terms the exact opposite is true. Humility has its place, and is just as necessary, don't get me wrong - but progress and discovery are never, ever, ever based on humility.

Then again, humility rarely kills anyone. Arrogance is very, very dangerous. It's the old 'no pain, no gain' argument, although in today's world of over-sensitivity and hyper-political-correctness, you can't say it that way anymore. Arrogance kills - of that there is no doubt. But pick any holiday weekend in the United States, and I guarantee you that more than seven people will die in automobiles on our roadways. That doesn't mean we stop driving automobiles on our roadways during holiday weekends, and yet this has been going on for several, several years.

Since the Columbia disaster on Saturday, February 1st, a lot of people are looking at the space program, particularly manned flight, and asking: "Who do we think we are?" The answer is this: we are curious humanity. We traveled into space, defying gravity and scores of other natural laws, and we continue to travel into space, for the same reason we climbed Mount Everest, built the Golden Gate Bridge and invented the Slinky - because we CAN. Ever since the first caveman thought, "Hey, I wonder what's on the other side of that big rock," we have ventured forth in search of knowledge. We are answer seekers, and we will seek those answers anywhere and anyway we can. Is this arrogance? Of course it is. Is it worth it? You bet it is. Because we're not just out there in space flying around on a joy ride - we're exploring, experimenting, testing, learning not just about space and space travel, but about our world and our species.

We went back after Apollo 1. We went back after Apollo 13. We went back after Challenger. And we will go back after Columbia. Because we can.