Space Shuttle Columbia lost?

[Kaiyosama]

is about all I can say...

 

[Darius101]

My condolences to all the shutttle crews releatives.
This is another true tradgedy for our country and our space program.

It looks like the shuttle was damaged durng liftoff. This damage resulted in this tradgedy and although we will get some answers from the wreckage only 7 people were there to know what happened and hopefully it happened so fast they did not feel the horror of death by re-entry into the atmosphere.

I have heard of no bodies being recovered as of 8pm EST. I doubt they even know what wreckage they have yet as it is strew over a 100mile area or more.

I got this same sickening feeling in my stomach when the Challenger blew apart.

What we need to work on now is the people that are still working in space on the space station. They have until late June to get them home safe. I pray we can find a solution to get them here safely before then.
Sadened by this event,
Darius

P.S. I salute our seven "Hero's" because they gave their lives willingly and without a second thought. They knew the risks and looked at them head on....they never looked back. They were brave, they were strong ....may we all have that courage when the time comes.

 

[Airwolf]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of the astronauts that were lost today.



Regards,
Airwolf

 

[DM_Matt]

(Shock, horror, pain...reverting to pedantic mode, becuase thats how I deal with such things...)

This won't kill the space program, but it is a huge setback for the bush adminstration's plans to build a space shuttle with a nuclear reactor, which will cut the time required to reach Mars (and thus the necessary provisions) to a third of what it would otherwise have to be, putting a manned mission to Mars into the range of possibility.

Regarding terrorism, this is the kind of thing that Islamic terrorists (particularly Iraq, see below) would LOVE to do, but I don't really see how they could have pulled it off, unless the slight accident at takeoff was the result of sabotage (unlikely). Not only are tensions with the US high (911, Afgahnistan, Iraq was soon), and not only did this mission carry the first Israeli astronaut, but said astronaut was the fighter pilot who blew up Saddam Hussein's first nuclear reactor.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Just think about it.

I am too busy thinking about how I pity someone who feels the need to crap on people feeling sorrow for the loss of life.

Welcome to the ignore list.

sD

 

[Some guy from Ohio]

Regarding terrorism, this is the kind of thing that Islamic terrorists (particularly Iraq, see below) would LOVE to do, but I don't really see how they could have pulled it off, unless the slight accident at takeoff was the result of sabotage (unlikely). Not only are tensions with the US high (911, Afgahnistan, Iraq was soon), and not only did this mission carry the first Israeli astronaut, but said astronaut was the fighter pilot who blew up Saddam Hussein's first nuclear reactor.

The speed and height of the shuttle during its destruction rules out any sort of missile or aircraft attack, so I think we can just rule out terrorism, but the conspiracy people are still coming out of the woodwork all over the net. (I'm not saying that about the above quote.)

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

This is a truely horrible event. It is a sad time when heroes die. All I can do is offer my best wishes for the families and friends of the heroes lost and hope that some good will come out of this tragedy.


This also brings back the painful memories of when the Challenger was lost. I was in 5th grade. We were watching the take off (as we always did back then) when tragedy struck.

Again my best wishes to those lost, in this, and all other such tragedies.

 

[Kilmore]

My condolences to all the shutttle crews releatives.
This is another true tradgedy for our country and our space program.

It looks like the shuttle was damaged durng liftoff. This damage resulted in this tradgedy and although we will get some answers from the wreckage only 7 people were there to know what happened and hopefully it happened so fast they did not feel the horror of death by re-entry into the atmosphere.

I have heard of no bodies being recovered as of 8pm EST. I doubt they even know what wreckage they have yet as it is strew over a 100mile area or more.

I got this same sickening feeling in my stomach when the Challenger blew apart.

What we need to work on now is the people that are still working in space on the space station. They have until late June to get them home safe. I pray we can find a solution to get them here safely before then.
Sadened by this event,
Darius

P.S. I salute our seven "Hero's" because they gave their lives willingly and without a second thought. They knew the risks and looked at them head on....they never looked back. They were brave, they were strong ....may we all have that courage when the time comes.

True, it is a tragedy for the whole world, even if some could not understand it.

It certainly looks like it was quick. I bet there would have been some kind of communication otherwise.

I have heard of the remains of at least one astronaut being found, but from what I understand, the debris area is spread well far over 100 miles.

The crew on the Space Station have a Russian Soyuz space capsule docked to their station, a system that, although it has had some failures, is very reliable. They can leave any time they need to. The only problem is that this would leave the station unmanned, wasting a lot of money.

 

[Eternalknight]

Does anyone have a link that can bring me up to speed? I have been out for most of the morning.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Other then the links already provided-

http://www.drudgereport.com/

He is usually pretty sharp in finding relevant and recent updates on stories.

SD