It looks like Columbia’s gone. No one seems to know what’s happened yet. Let’s hope the crew survived.
7 people on board, I can’t imagine they have any serious chance of surviving.
Let’s hope.
Now NASA is warning people to report but stay away from debris.
They were travelling at Mach17.
Words fail. Not again.
Oh my god. Let’s all say a prayer.
sigh
I was in 10th grade in the spring of 1987. We watched the liftoff in Algebra class, since there was a teacher on board. I remember just dead silence in the classroom, and my teacher frozen.
I am experiencing the same feelings today. This is a day of mourning…
I’m in shock. Complete shock.
I don’t know what else to say.
I’ve just seen the video of it breaking up. 
Video from Texas shows what appears to be the shuttle breaking up and falling to the ground.
It’s a shame that we’ve gotten so used to political profiteering that right now the only thing I can think is “I wonder if Bush is going to blame it on Iraq.”
UnuMondo
Two weeks ago, I checked an item off my Lifetime To-Do List, and watched a space shuttle launch live, from Cocoa Beach.
It was all the more special because it was Columbia, the one that first had me in awe as a kid.
I visited the astronaut memorial and noted that they had built it with an awful lot of room for more names, that they were so cautious that it would probably be a long time before that room was needed.
I don’t really know what to say, I’m just rambling.
I was in 8th grade, and my class watched it too… from the athletic field. Up in the sky. I’ve been unable to watch shuttle launches since then because they freak me out. Now this.
cry
This is just so horrible.
Wasn’t Columbia the first shuttle the built?
This is Not Good on every level. I am sad.
No, but she was the first to fly in space. Damn, damn, damn.
Same here. When I opened my browser I thought it was a sick joke. But MSNBC isn’t a joking site. I had to read the headline three times before I believed what I was seeing. What a thing to wake up to on a Saturday morning.
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhh. They’re interviewing a former astronaut and the interviewer HAS to ask him how it makes him feel to watch it. Then, when he is obviously choking up and having trouble responding, he presses him on it.
I wish this was in the pit so I could say how I feel about the interviewer, and this despicable tendency by news media (I know its been covered before, but it still gets to me).
Close, SpazCat, Enterprise was the first built, but it was used for testing only, and never went into space. Columbia was the first launched and was the oldest ship in the fleet.
Oh sh*t.
Having been on the Space Shuttle Support Team when I was at Edwards, I should say that I tend to take this sort of thing a little personally.
Rest in Peace, Columbia crew.
CNN is reporting that an Israeli astronaut was on flight. Dear God, let it be mechanical failure and not terrorism.
Another one who saw the other shuttle go out from 7th grade english class. Just unbelivable.
My prayers go out to all involved - including those on the ground under that debris.