Space Shuttle Columbia

[Max Power]

This is terrible.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

An awful day.

I was watching the NASA channel at work this morning -- my sons and I had been following the mission all along -- wishing I was on duty at Cape Canaveral. My relief came in and I headed home and caught NPR and they said the shuttle was cleared to land since the visibility had come up and they only had about 20 minutes to go.

Then I got home and hit CNN to watch and couldn't believe it. God. Just awful.

[pathogan]

...my God...

[sweaver]

We sometimes forget, now that Shuttle flights have become almost routine, that working in space is a dangerous, dangerous business.

[JamesI]

My god.

Horid memories of the Challenger flooding back.

[KCBOOMER]

Another sad day. All you can do is keep going.

[Craig S.]

You know these things are bound to happen, but it doesn't make it any easier to accept. Those poor families.

[Max Power]

For the sake of the people on board, I hope they never realized what was happening.

[sweaver]

Thinking about the Shuttle crew and their sacrifice has been affecting me all day, more than I expected or realized.

[JamesI]

Originally posted by sweaver
Thinking about the Shuttle crew and their sacrifice has been affecting me all day, more than I expected or realized.

Me too. There have only been a few times I've felt like this.

My prayers for their families.

[pwdennis]

Unfortunately, despite the amazing technology shown on the various Star Trek, Star Wars & Babylon Five type shows, in reality space exploration is still in its infancy and things like today's tragedy will happen from time to time. I am sure the Columbia's crew knew of the risks, and felt them to be acceptable, and more importantly, want the quest to continue.

My sympathies to their friends and families

RIP

[hmrsf]

Originally posted by JamesI
My god.

Horid memories of the Challenger flooding back.



Exactly. That is how I felt all day. I kept waiting for the president to say something, like I did when I was in high school, but there was no comfort in a well said speech. Your mind still wanders.

You really feel for for these people and their families.

[SmedIndy]

It truly is amazing we haven't lost more.

One question, no one mentioned the Cosmonauts that died in the Soviet space program. We learned a lot from their success and failures.

I am a big proponent of space exploration. We need to move forward.

[sweaver]

Looking back over the history of NASA, they have lost astronauts to an accident only about once every twenty years. Apollo 1's fire on the launch pad during testing, the Challenger fuel tank explosion, and now this. Each time, a design flaw was exposed in the most tragic way, and was corrected.

After the Challenger tragedy, NASA went into CYA mode, and was trying to sweep things under the rug. Nobel Laureate and physicist Richard Feynman was on the investigating commission, and at one meeting took one of the provided O-rings and dunked it in his glass of ice water. It quickly became brittle and crumbled. Thus was the design flaw exposed; not usually a problem in the warmth of Florida, but it was that cold winter.

I hope that the sacrifice of these brave people will help us to make space travel safer for those who follow.

[rcartman28]

As sad and tragic as this is, they need to keep going, even though this won't be the last time something like this happens.

[pathogan]

...maybe its just new yorkers, but I dont sense the same shock and grief that was felt in 1986...

[Max Power]

Anything the 2nd time is less of a shock.

[JamesI]

Maybe its less of a shock right now since the Challenger was on launch when it exploded. In the 80's they aired the launches on tv every time. This time it was on reentry, and how many people even knew it was in space before the explosion?

[pathogan]

Originally posted by JamesI
Maybe its less of a shock right now since the Challenger was on launch when it exploded. In the 80's they aired the launches on tv every time. This time it was on reentry, and how many people even knew it was in space before the explosion?

I think you're correct on this...love the folks selling stuff on E-Bay...greed is a sickness,no?

[JamesI]

Originally posted by pathogan
I think you're correct on this...love the folks selling stuff on E-Bay...greed is a sickness,no?

That is disgusting! Every bit of debris could help isolate a cause! I hope ebay shuts those auctions down.