Remembering The Columbia Seven

“May Their Spirits Soar Forever.

Bless Them All.”

“sad, indeed.

but did any of you guys know we had a space shuttle up there? i'm just comparing this to the Challenger...everyone was glued to the screen when it went up. i know i, for one, am out of the loop, but lots of people i know never knew this one was even landing, until the explosion. i guess the times have changed...”

“and the rocket's red glare....

the bombs bursting in air....



Ooops that's probably not an appropriate song right now is it?”

“sad.......the more there are the less you notice, like car accidents.”

“"One of most enjoyable things about flying in space is getting
to see God's creation from a different perspective." --Col. Rick
Husband, Commander, Colombia STS”

“God speed.”

“Only the good die young!!
May they live on in our history books forever...that is sad.”

“soar above the winds of Man.”

“Nasa Science News

"
Feb. 4th, 2003: At the dawn of the space age some 40 years ago, we
always
knew who was orbiting Earth or flying to the Moon. Neil Armstrong, Yuri
Gagarin, John Glenn. They were household names--everywhere.

Lately it’s different. Space flight has become more “routine.” Another
flight of the shuttle. Another visit to the space station. Who’s
onboard
this time? Unless you’re a NASA employee or a serious space enthusiast,
you might not know.

Dave Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael
Anderson,
William McCool, and Ilan Ramon

Now we know. Those are the names of the seven astronauts who were
tragically lost on Saturday, Feb. 1st, when the space shuttle Columbia
(STS-107) broke apart over Texas.

Before the , perhaps, they were strangers to you. But if that's
so, why did you have a knot in your gut when you heard the news? What
were
those tears all about? Why do you feel so deep-down sad for seven
strangers?

Astronauts have an unaccountable hold on us. They are explorers.
Curious,
humorous, serious, daring, careful. Where they go, they go in peace.
Every
kid wants to be one. Astronauts are the essence of humanity.

They are not strangers. They are us.

While still in orbit Dave Brown asked, jokingly, “do we really have to
come back?”

No. But we wish you had.

The Science@NASA team, as does all of NASA and the world, extends
heartfelt sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of the
STS-107
crew. Please see the NASA Home Page for more
information on the Columbia Investigation.

--Tony Phillips, Ron Koczor, Bryan Walls, Becky Bray, Patrick Meyer."”

“The president of my company is a former astronaught that has done three shuttle missions. She said, "Many people dream of flying in space. Few people acheive the dream of of spaceflight. They knew the risks and the crew bravely achieved their dreams. What else matters?"”

“well wishes and warm thoughts to the astronauts family and friends...”

“Yes they did die doing the thing that they loved, but I still feel bad that I wasn't paying attention before the disaster. I was only aware of the sound bite of the first Israeli in space. I should have been following the mission and the school experiments.”

“thye're gonna have to find a better solution to the 'heat tiles' delima. the cost is too high(meaning their lives of course).”