Columbia is missing!

“This does not sound good. Overdue for landing, lost all contact at 200,000 ft or so over Texas, on decent. Warning people to stay away from any debris they might find.”

“Are you for real?!”

“they said there has been a very large explotion near Dallas TX.


mapleleaf”

“Holy sh--... this is very tragic. It's all over the newschannels now.”

“SAR in Dallas Texas area alerted.”

“yeah arty, look on foxnews or cnn...


landing seems so safe, never thought we'de loose one landing...














OUUUUUUUUUCH! sorry for being selfish...”

“They were on high alert security wise because they had one astronaught from Isreal on board.

They were prepared for a terrorist attack....

Its a shame whatever happened.”

“they are showing photos of the shuttle breaking up on its way down. this suck because they had everyones family in mission control watching the landing


mapleleaf”

“What are you watching maple?

Fox News doesn't have that.”

“Now its on Fox. :(”

“NBC”

“Wow, this really sucks. :-(”

“they are now talking to Buzz Aldren. has anyone seen the picts. yet?”

“Fox News just reported that it was 207,000 feet up and traveling more than 12,000 miles an hour.

No shoulder-launched SAM could keep up with that.”

“this is so sad :(”

“the pics are of the shuttle breaking up upon re-entry”

“And the first shuttle loss is still so vivid in my mind. Tis another sad day for America, and it's space and science programs.”

“Damn. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the crew.”

“All the more poignant now:


Columbia Crew Repairs Experiment, Remembers Fallen Heroes
By Jim Banke
Senior Producer, Cape Canaveral Bureau
posted: 06:00 pm ET
28 January 2003

{snip}

Meanwhile, the science took a back seat Tuesday for a few brief moments in recognition of the 17th anniversary of the 1986 Challenger disaster in which seven astronauts and a $2 billion spaceplane was lost in the skies over Kennedy Space Center.

As is now the tradition, workers at NASA centers around the nation paused for a moment of silence at 11:38 a.m. EST (1638 GMT) to mark the time the shuttle lifted off and honor not only the Challenger astronauts, but those lost in the 1967 Apollo 1 spacecraft fire and others who have lost their lives reaching for the stars. ”

“We have made them our heroes, their motives so pure, exploration and science. They always know of the risks, but singlemindedly push forward. We are (I am!) the ones who begin to take these missions for granted.”

“This #&%!$ing sucks.”

“Yeah, Pathman, I was just thinking that these missions were starting to become routine.”

“A sad day.”

“I have mixed emotions today. I'm broken hearted about the shuttle and jubilant because my boss and dear friend had a baby daughter today. My eyes filled with tears when I heard of both events.

The Challenger explosion happened on my thirteenth birthday. I remember it vividly also. I never thought it would happen again.”

“I can't see how terrorism could account for this, but with Israel's first astronaut onboard, you have to wonder.”

“for their families and all of us..I was watching TV while on the "other" site..Mapleleaf was the first one to respond to my post about the Columbia which I wrote as I was watching the newsbreak/heartbreak...”

“The Columbia was 200,00 feet in the air, which makes it unlikely a terrorist attack (although the truth is as yet unclear). It does appear that the worst has happened, and that is about as somber a note as I could think of today. My heart goes out to them and their families...”

“God, I just found out! This is so sad.

I was home sick from school when Challenger happened. I remember seeing it happen on television.

I hope they don't find out that NASA was cutting corners again. They got a new civilian boss out there about a year ago, who was trying to bring the budget under control.”

“:o(

I remember quite vividly the Challenger going down...the schools made a big deal of it because of Christa McCaulif (sp?) being a teacher. It helped generate interest in a lot of young delinquents at my school. Everyone watched the launch...and later the fall of the shuttle.

Sad day.”

“There's no SAM made, never mind shoulder-fired, that could go that high, simply because they don't have to. The only possibility for this to be a terrorist attack is if there was a bomb planted on board the shuttle prior to liftoff, and that is highly unlikely.

Columbia was simply too old. She likely shook apart on re-entry.

My heart is very heavy. I remember the Challenger accident the way people remember Kennedy's assassination. Also, since I live in Huntsville, I've always been very attuned to the space program. My childhood dream was to become an astronaut, so this is all very heart-rending for me.”

“"I have mixed emotions today. I'm broken hearted about the shuttle and jubilant because my boss and dear friend had a baby daughter today. My eyes filled with tears when I heard of both events.
sassafras"

i feel the same way as you do. I am dealing with my own bullshyt and then this happens. makes me feel like what im going through is nothing campared to whatthe Columbia Shulltes family is and will be going through in a long time to come.


Mapleleaf”

“They were showing launch footage of debris coming off a booster and possibly hitting the left wing of the shuttle.”

“There is a SAM that is capable of shooting that high, but the U.S. is the only country that has it. The system takes up the size of two football fields and the missle is the length of three cars. I think someone would have noticed it.

I agree with bitpusher, the shuttle probably had some structure failure. It only takes one little piece at that speed to throw off the areodynamics to the point it would rip apart.

I don't think it could have been terrorist. People will always consider that because of resent events though.”

“This is horrific. My thoughts and sympathies are with their families.

I remember when the Challenger exploded also. I had been enroute to work when it happened. When I arrived at work a coworker greeted me at the door with the news and I thought it surely must have been his idea of a sick joke.

I had the same reaction this morning when I heard the announcement on the radio. I just didn't want to believe it. I wish it wasn't true. I hope they're able to find out how it happened.”

“Absolutely devastated. I still can't watch reruns of Challenger. This is a major setback to space exploration. My heart goes out to all the families and the folks at NASA. This really sucks.”

“I was at my local gear store when I heard, didn't feel much like shopping after that.


Don't count out terrorism, it seems that it broke up (couldn't handle the stress) during reentry. All it takes is some bastard with a hacksaw to weaken components to cause something like that.

I feel pretty distraught right now.”

“c'mon buddha. Terrorism is a stretch to imagine here. If it turns out to be the case, I'd be very very surprized.”

“Did anyone catch the apparent Howard Stern prank phone call on MSNBC at about 9:45 EST? (I'm not joking here...) The MSNBC Anchor thought she was talking to a NASA spokesperson named Ira (lastname?), who commented on initial photos of the Columbia breaking apart and said, (I'm paraphrasing here) "NASA lost contact with Columbia at approx 9:15 EST, it's beieved that Jackie (lastname?) shot down the Space Shuttle because he thought Howard Stern was aboard".

Honestly, what's wrong with people?

:(”

“Yeah, that is totally ridiculous Capn Bobo, and I am a Stern fan.

Phaedrus, I totally agree that iit is a stretch, but I guess that the thought that it is plausible would never have occured to me prior to 9/11 2001.”

“they are staring to find debris...”

“True, BB. And sad.”

“This shuttle just went through a complete overhaul, I believe that this was it's first flight after this update. NASA has had cuts in it's budget since Nixon needed cash to help pay for the Vietnam war. That's part of the reason we're not on the moon anymore. We have lost too much machinery in the 2-4 years due to these cut backs and now we have lost human lives, which I think you can not put a price tag on the lives of people. There should be no reason that Columbia should have been rehabed, it should have been retired and replaced. This also brings to light how dangerous these missions are. I think they should re-think the idea of flying something in like that over heavily populated areas. This is now a serious haz mat situation, where others could die.”

“They have reported debris in AR as well. I would imagine they will find some in Louisana before it's over.”

“Hey Rockman, welcome back. I hope your trip was healing.

I see Ebay has zapped that item. good for them!”