Another Sad Day for The World

Golo100 · Feb 1, 2003

The now confirmed death of 7 astronauts, six American and an Israeli in the Challengers explosion during its entrance to the atmosphere is another blow to humanity. I feel my Saturday has gone down the tubes. It is so sad. These people were researching for cures for diseases and to make our lives better.
My condolences to all my American friends and to the country of Israel.

TW

Pib · Feb 1, 2003

It was the Columbia that exploded. I found out while reading another forum I am a member of. This is so sad in so many levels, I feel for the families of these 7 astronauts.

What a sad accident...

Larry · Feb 1, 2003

When I turned on the television, my first terrible assumption was that Saddam and Osama had begun to unleash a wave of terror upon us but apparently it was a horrible accident.Its upsetting that after so many years of perfecting mechaincs and safety measures on the shuttle something like this could happen.
Depressing.
Larry

Escott · Feb 1, 2003

Yes a sad day. Funny, I remember the school teacher that died on the other Shuttle that failed.

Golo, thanks for expressing your thoughts.

Escott

AZB · Feb 1, 2003

There was also an indian lady inside, so my condolences to American, Indian and Israeli families. Sadly, i never saw any headlines of the first Indian women in space; just a simple mention of her existance, after she died.

Robert · Feb 1, 2003

Very sad! Just noticed on the local afternoon papers

Hillbilly · Feb 1, 2003

apparently the left wing was damaged on take off and that resulted in severe buffeting at mach 18 which tore up Columbia. NASA announcing that the left wing sensors were the first to go out.

HB very sad...

Petaka · Feb 1, 2003

Wintry mix in the northeast, my day was already grey.

PJT · Feb 1, 2003

A real bummer. PJT

Andy B · Feb 1, 2003

HB, did they say what damaged the wing? A bird or ???

dale7 · Feb 1, 2003

My condolescences

I remember being in 3rd grade when the Challenger exploded and my teacher crying because the first teacher in space(woman I believe called Christy McCallister?) and all of us young ones not realizing what was happening until watching the footage and the upsetting sight of our teacher crying. I found out today at work about the Columbia and sending a prayer to all those families who have lost a loved one in that tragic crash.
dale7(moment of silence)

GRS · Feb 1, 2003

Very Sad. My condolences to all involved in this tragedy. This was the second trip of the Indian girl, she went on another journey back in 1997. It was a first for the Israelist people and they were ready to celebrate, I think that's why they mention him more than the Indian girl. Imagine coming at 200,000 feet and 12,500 miles fast, the simpliest thing that goes wrong and the whole thing would come apart. They made a sacrifice for us, and their families should be proud of that. There are question of weather continue the program or not, well...I think they should, is a tragedy but we have to continue going forward.

Ken · Feb 1, 2003

AZB said:
There was also an indian lady inside, so my condolences to American, Indian and Israeli families. Sadly, i never saw any headlines of the first Indian women in space; just a simple mention of her existance, after she died.

AZB, I have seen quite a bit today about the lady from India on CNN. She was a naturalized American who was born in India. A very talented lady from all reports.

Andy B said:
HB, did they say what damaged the wing? A bird or ???

The shuttle was over 200,000 feet above earth when the accident occured. It had not yet reentered earth's atmosphere. No birds out there. I watched the news conference in the late afternoon. The NASA people urged that we not speculate, since they simply don't know at this time what caused the accident. The left wing may be involved since that is where the sensors first stopped reporting, but they stressed they have a great deal of work to do before they will know. Could take a long time since they don't have the detailed camera reports they had when Challenger exploded on take off. This is the first fatal accident on reentry.

Andy B · Feb 1, 2003

Ken, I understand that they were at 200,000 ft when it started breaking up and that birds don't fly that high. HB posted that the wing was damaged on take off and I interpreted that to mean when they took off from launch Pad 39 at Cape Canaveral. There's quite a few birds around the cape and the adjoining Canaveral National Seashore and Mosquito Lagoon. Of course there's always the possibility they could have hit a piece of space junk, what with all the debris from past space shots orbiting around the earth.

AnnaC · Feb 1, 2003

very sad!

Porfio_Rubirosa · Feb 1, 2003

AZB,

Your condolences were appreciated, especially, knowing your politics, those for the families of the Israeli and Indian astronauts.

This type of disaster is a set-back for progress and for the human race. It would not have mattered the race or religion of the astronauts. As you may know, an Egyptian has already been in space on the shuttle.

In regard to science and progress, we all ride this big blue marble in space together.

Andy B · Feb 2, 2003

After reading MSNBC's report this morning, it seems that a large piece of insulating foam from the external booster system broke off during launch and struck the left wing. This could have damaged it and eventually caused the breakup. However, NASA seemed to think that this was not the problem. A former astronaut opined that the heat tiles were more than likely the problem with one or more coming off and exposing the sensitive aluminum skin to intense heat and rapid burn-through (resulting in instantaneous decompression-possibly the explosion heard just before the craft started breaking up).

Ken · Feb 2, 2003

A good, continuing source of coverage of the aftermath of the shuttle's loss, and of the investigation, is the Houston (Texas) Chronical. See http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/space/index.html

Houston is the home of the Johnson Space Center, which is responsible for manned space flight.

Tony C · Feb 2, 2003

SHUT UP!!!! SHUT UP!!!!

Everybody stop with the theories!!! We will know when the investigation is over.

I remember all of the Crazy theories these "so called" experts came up with after the Challenger! My fav was the Lighting bolt from the Soviet spy trawler!

andy a · Feb 2, 2003

As I recall the Challenger case, NASA itself tried to deflect the blame away from the cold o-rings because it had virtually forced the launch to proceed against the advice of the engineers.

One of the world's most brilliant physicists, the late Dr. Feynman (of Bongo drum fame), was chosen to "discover" the cause. Some critics say that his real mission was actually to cover it up, a la the Warren Commission. When he confirmed the frozen o-ring, NASA tried to dispute it and even discredit him. Guess what, his reputation was so strong that even NASA (the government) had to accept it.

Let the debates continue!

Another Sad Day for The World

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