Save the Titusville rocket
A FLORIDA TODAY editorial
New York City has the Statue
of Liberty.
San Francisco has the Golden
Gate Bridge.
Titusville has The Rocket.
OK, that's probably not a fair
comparison. But to many folks who live in Titusville the aging,
rusted Titan 1 that's parked in front of Titusville High School
means as much as Lady Liberty or California's magnificent
bridge.
After all, city residents helped
send the first astronauts into space, launched men to the
moon and dispatched spacecraft to other planets. And they're
still flying shuttles and building the International Space
Station.
It's all done with rockets,
which makes the Titan a fitting symbol of the exploration
of space.
Sadly, the 30-year-old rocket
may be headed for the scrap heap. It's literally falling apart,
will cost $50,000 to restore, and the city doesn't want to
ante-up. Time is running out fast.
To the rescue, maybe, has come
Angie Sharkey.
The 1984 graduate of Titusville
High is leading a new fund-raising drive to save the old Titan.
Along with her husband, John, she has started a Web site to
raise cash, which could be pooled with $9,000 previously collected
by the Titusville Kiwanis Club.
The rocket, says Sharkey, is
inspirational proof that "we can all soar if we work hard
to fly."
We'll second that, and wish
her the best of luck.
The rocket is a little piece
of local history that deserves everyone's support so it can
shine again.
