This one went right. Thirty-three miners who spent more than two months trapped a half-mile underground in a Chilean gold and copper mine are back on the surface, most in decent shape, restored to their families.
All who worked on this rescue effort -- the Chilean leadership, drillers, submariners, NASA workers, doctors, psychologists, engineers, stretcher bearers and families who refused to lose faith -- beat back despair and gave 33 miners and the world an unalloyed victory.
And what about the rescued? They held together with one another, words of love and hope and supplies tunneled down by borehole over days and weeks.
One man stayed fit by running through six miles of mine tunnels. Another trained in first aid took care of a fellow miner suffering pneumonia.
All of them were pulled up to the surface in a capsule called "Phoenix," in an operation described as "flawless." So flawless that rescuers were able to beat their anticipated time for getting all of the miners out.
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