Columbia Lost.

[Dagon]

I`m sorry  :-(
It reminds me the tragedy of the Challenger when I was a little.

[KennyR]

It's a sad thing, but remember there are deaths by accident everywhere around the world, most a lot worse, and these people knew the risks. I know this sounds heartless - but it's not, really. They'll go down in history as heroes who lost their lives for their country and for humanity. I wish I could go that way.

What's perhaps worse than the deaths of seven good people is the damage done to the space program, and to mankind's conquest of space. This is likely to set it back years, if not decades, and that's not how I would like to celebrate the bravery of seven astronauts.

People sometimes die when they try to aspire to greater things, but if we gave them up because of that we might as well go back to the trees.

[redfox]

This was a sad day, and a tragic loss.  My sympathies go out to the families of the astronauts.

[Quixote]

KennyR pointed out:

People sometimes die when they try to aspire to greater things, but if we gave them up because of that we might as well go back to the trees.

:cry: I forget who said this first, but...

"If you reach for the stars, you may not grasp them.  -But you won't bring back a handful of dirt."

[asian1]

It's a very sad day, major tragedy after the new year celebration.

I want to express my condolences and deepest sympathy to the families of the seven astronauts.

[R2D2]

Horrible..  :cry:

[weirdami]

:-(

[Targhan]

:cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :boohoo:  :boohoo:  :boohoo:  :nervous:  :cry:  :cry:

[DarkHawke]

By sheer chance I had the tube on just as they were showing the re-entry of the shuttle wreckage over Texas.  You hope against hope, but you know anyway.   :-(   I hope that, as we mourn this loss and find and correct whatever went wrong (if possible), we realize that these astronauts wouldn't want this to stop the space program.  To truly honor their memory, we must go on.  The President has already said as much, and I hope that is the case.  Thankfully we have the added inertia of the space station, but I know that many will start pissing and moaning about how much we "waste" on the space program just because we've lost 14 astronauts in 17 years.  Maybe if the budget didn't get cut year after year, we'd be working with something better than 1970s technology to go to and from orbit.

[strobe]

I have zero respect for NASA which began as a huge publicity stunt and has degenerated into a laughable publicity stunt. The only reason they even had a launch was because they were going to put the first Isreali in space.

END MANNED SPACE FLIGHTS!

They cost too much and have nothing to do with science. I can't believe we're still wasting my tax money to fry tokens to a crisp. :-x

[JurassicCamper]

Sad Sad Day.
Terrible News.
I hope that this does not put an end to the space program.

Please Please DONT go souvineer hunting.

 :-(  :-(

[amigamad]

very sad for their familys .

[Warface]

Gully Foyle is my name,
and Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling place,
the stars my destination.

[System]

http://www.amiworld.it/interviste/green/HalInterview-eng.html

[Rigger]

Composed by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. at 30-thousand feet over England in 1941.

High Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings:

Sunward I ‘ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence: hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, the long, delirious burning blue

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew --

And, while the silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

[minator]

This is a terrible tragedy, but alas this is the cost of progress.
I like AmiNTT have always been a bit of a space buff from when I was very little and agree these guys (and gals) are heroes.

Everyone sufferers risks of one kind or another every day, on the other hand Astronauts put themselves in much, much greater danger for the betterment of Human civilisation.  They have my utmost respect.

I'm very glad that President Bush said that despite this progress will continue.

--

Maybe if the budget didn't get cut year after year, we'd be working with something better than 1970s technology to go to and from orbit.

They use old technology on purpose, firstly everything has to be qualified for space (radiation resistance etc.) and they only use things which are tried and tested.  Using the latest tech would be a very risky move.  Consequently you'll probably still find things like 68000 CPUs in the Shuttle.

NASA take a tiny fraction of the US budget, perhaps this may actually get them more.

--


My condolences go to their Families, Friends and Colleagues.



Nicholas Blachford :-(