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I still remember the day that Challenger exploded, so hearing the news about Columbia this morning made me very, very sad.  My respect and condolences go to the families and friends of the astronauts.  We sometimes forget how risky being a pioneer is and astronauts are among the last true pioneers.

I can only subscribe to that lines... the tragic news really came as a shock to me. This tragedy really reminds us that space missions still are dangerous and far from routine, as much as we like to believe it. But I sure do hope that the exploration of space will continue - I think that the Columbia crew would feel the same.

I also wish to express my condolences to the families and friends - I seldom say so, but my prayers are with them.

in sympathy,
Markus

This marks one of the two times I have seen a television set to the news in the back room at work.

Terrible.

I'm very relieved to hear full support behind the continuation of the space program, even from President Bush himself.  Everybody involved is surely aware of the constant danger.  What better way to honor their memories, and the memories of all fallen crews, than to press on?

I wonder how this will affect the incoming budget of NASA.  There's only so many times you can refurbish something, especially something that goes through that much stress during usage.  Of course it takes money to create new ships, let alone an updated design.  But where do you get the money for something that wasn't even really touched upon in the recent State of the Union address?

I'm really wondering how this will play out in the court of public opinions.

Sorry if I come off as crass.  The space program is one of the few things I care deeply about.

Yes it was really sad news, I remember the Challenger exploding as I watched it live on TV. We dream of space exploration as kids, astronauts always kind of epitomized childhood dreams come true for the select few. Because in many ways space is one of the last undiscovered frontiers left.

I live in Dallas, and heard the boom and felt the house rock and windows shake. At first I thought of fireworks but nobody shoots those off around here at 8 in the morning. When I found out the cause it was disheartening, you realize in that moment you just heard 7 people lose their life.

The news ought to be shot for some of the ways they are covering the story tho, I always get really angered when I see how they'll go to no ends to find any angle they can without any kind of ethics or morals or sensitivity to the matter. Nobody's really mentioned with all the talk of the toxicity of the chemical reside on the pieces how the air quality is tho so I may stay in tomorrow, hard to do with all this blue sky and sunshine we're having tho.

I hope NASA does a thorough check and overhaul of the rest of the shuttles before any are sent up again. Something is seriously wrong when it just breaks up like that.

>The news ought to be shot for some of the ways they are covering the story tho,

I agree. I almost expect to see them come on with a live report every time someone finds a screw. I care about what happened, but I really don't want to listen to them tell me over and over that there's no new information.

I remember the Challenger exploding as I watched it live on TV while I was in the hospital.  I could not believe it happened.    I remember everyone crying after they saw what happened.

This morning I woke about 8 AM to my husband telling that the "Mission Control" lost contact with the Space Shuttle Columbia.  He told me that he felt that the longer the Columbia was out of contact with "mission control" there was a major problem.  

Next thing we heard on the news channels was that Columbia had "exploded".  We were shocked that it was over Dallas, because we live in Abilene, TX which is three hours west of Dallas( I wish it had made it back safe to FL.).    We are still hearing about parts of the shuttle still being located.  

Our prays go out to all the families, friends, and co-worker of all seven astronauts.

The whole incident is a clear sign from God that we are meant to stay on the Earth so that he can be sure to kill all of us at once when armageddon comes.

You've been watching THE OMEGA CODE again, haven't you?

It is odd that the first reports that I was hearing was that debri was falling in Palistine, TX and you had the first Isreali astronaut on board.

It was kinda like the Russian rocket that entered our atmosphere over the whole east coast two weeks before 9-11 and then a year later you had that winning lottery ticket one year from the date 911 for New York State lottery.

Don't be surprised if another world event happens in the next couple weeks. Signs in the sky have often been precursors to world events. The above events just may be of divine origin. To those who have understanding.

PitPat may have have touched on something. Maybe not just as he described, but in the general ball park. Earth is rather like a spaceship in itself and we may be seeing things move more quickly.

There is much more happening in the wolrd than anyone has even concieved. There is a change a coming. The world is now to small to continue the way it has. Remember that all things aim towards the good. It can not be otherwise. Just keep your eyes and ears open and be on the right side of the stick.

http://www.debsfunpages.com/shuttle.htm

After going through the Challenger disaster, this is one sequel I could do without.  Condolences and RIPs.

I too am glad that we are continuing in space; it would be a very poor memorial to these folks to just pack up and stick our heads in the earth.

What a poor end to such a great international experiment.

I feel that NASA will probably lose a lot of its private funding, due to this being yet another screw up in the most recent flights.

I also dont think that God has a direct hand in this, because God is omnibenevelant, and this was not benevelant in any way.

Roll on, Columbia, roll on.  Soar for eternity.
God bless.

Wasn't this shuttle the oldest one still in use from 1981? I think they pushed it one too many times and from now on have to really throughly inspect the shuttles.

I wouldn't worry too much about toxicity, odds are good they just exagerated that to keep people from messing with the debris.  Parts of the crash are already showing up on ebay.  The amount of disrespect some people have...
Do something enough times and something will eventualy go wrong.  20 years is probably pretty old for something that complex.  Best wishes to the families.

----ooo-'U'-ooo-----Kilroy was here.

I hope NASA does a thorough check and overhaul of the rest of the shuttles before any are sent up again. Something is seriously wrong when it just breaks up like that.

Not really.  The margin for error in reentry is very small.  There's only a leeway of a few degrees in angle of attack and outside that window, this will happen.

The analysis of the shuttle system early on predicted such a event in one in every X number of flights ( I don't know what X is, but the statistical analysis was done to predict it).  The entire system and mission is horrendously complicated and still very dangerious, which we sometimes forget because they've managed to do so well.

 It doesn't take something seriously wrong or a 'screw up' for this to happen.  All it takes is the odds against you this time around.

>Wasn't this shuttle the oldest one still in use from 1981? I think they pushed it one
>too many times and from now on have to really throughly inspect the shuttles.

They said on the news that each shuttle is designed for 100 flights and this was only the 28th for Columbia.

>Not really. The margin for error in reentry is very small. There's only a leeway of
>a few degrees in angle of attack and outside that window, this will happen.

In other words, the pilot probably screwed up?

Who wants to bets on how long it will be before they suddenly know what (almost certainly) happened and the news starts interviewing NASA janitors who'll say "I told 'em that port-side, carbonizing latch nozzle was going to fail. I warned 'em!"

The same thing happened with the Challenger; when it happened, everyone said they had no clue what could have gone wrong. 6 months later it was like everyone in NASA *KNEW* the O-rings were going to fail and was just holding their breath waiting for it to happen.

In other words, the pilot probably screwed up?

I wouldn't say 'screwed up' any more than  Dale Earnhardt "screwed up".  Sometimes you do your best and sometimes, that time around, it's just not good enough.  Maybe not because you weren't good enough but maybe that time around, nobody's best would've been good enough.   Sometimes the unexpected or unforseen or unpredictable happens

Sometimes, it's nobody's 'fault'.