Columbia Lost.

[AmiNTT]

This isn't what I really thought I'd wake up to this morning.  It is really terrible, and quite a shock.

I've always been a space buff, right back to my earliest memories.  I remember the Challenger disaster quite vividly - I was in high school at the time.  

There is plenty of speculation as to what caused it, but it may have to to with some damage to the left wing on take off from a piece of insulation from the center tank.

Astronauts have always been heros to me, and its really terrible to see this.

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3:34pm Nasa Press conference
They lost temperature information on the left wing, the loss of temperature data and then loss of tire pressure data just before the loss of contact.

3:48pm
From the breakdown of the information that NASA has given out it appears to *me* that the damage sustained to the left wing on launch probably was more serious than was first thought.  Upon re-entry, the left wing's damage allowed heat into the frame of the wing, eventually taking it off, and then making the orbiter tumble until it broke apart.

At the velocity and heat levels involved I don't expect that the astronauts felt very much.  That much is fortunate, rather than what some of the astronauts on Challenger experienced.

A terrible day indeed.

[AmiNTT]

I would point out that the Columbia was hardly "old" - barely at 1/3 of its designed life cycle (100 flights on airframe).

The orbiter went through two Orbiter Maintenance Down Periods (OMDP) during which the orbiter is completely overhauled.  During these two OMDPs, over 150 modifications were made.  During the last one (1999), a new "glass" cockpit was installed using multi-function displays rather than dials to show information.  

I'd equate it to stripping a car down to the frame and rebuilding it.

One thing that sickens me are the people who use  disasters to push their political agendas... "Ban manned space flight" and the like.  I understand that they must make noise at times like this because its the only time that they will get any real press, but that doesn't excuse it in my mind.

There are legitimate uses for both types of spaceflight, manned and robotic. Pioneer 10 was launched 25 days before I was born, and it holds a special spot for me.

Not everything is easy, or safe.  The rewards of taking the risks can be great, with the possibility of failure always there.  The people of the space program are heros, one and all.