SC Wolf-- a couple of minutes ago my husband showed me that someone WAS hawking Challenger debris on ebay.
Sometimes I’m glad to live on the west coast so that I don’t have the shock of catching these tragedies live without warning, but it makes a strange thing to wake up to. A bad day.
Can you imagine having to take a capsule back to earth?
It would be the ultimate shorts filling luge run.
airdisc: Col Ramon’s mother survived Auschwitz.
http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/about_yad/press_room/temp_index_press_room_ramon.html
I do apologize. Of course I mean Columbia, not Challenger. I am afraid I was having a flashback.
The B-52s that are still in service and which will probably see combat again are older than their aircrews. Most of the General Aviation aircraft in the United States are 25 or 30 years old. Aircraft are subjected to rigourous inspections on a regular basis. Spacecraft are practically rebuilt after their flights.
Ugh.
Terrible news, very sad.
I watched Atlantis take off from Cocoa Beach in May of 1997. It was one of the neatest things I’ll probably ever see.
This news just sucks. 
Well, I just hope they–unlike the poor Challenger crew–died instantly.
How long till Pierre Salinger comes up with some harebrained conspiracy theory?
I don’t think Endeavour was built from “spare parts”. IIRC, there was a plan to build more Shuttles, and Endeavour was the next one off the line.
I don’t know how long this will last, but a NOAA radar image of the shuttle breakup/debris can be seen here.
I vividly remember watching the shuttle go up in flames in 1986. I was sick and stayed home from school. My grandmother called me to tell me there was a launch because I was way into that kind of stuff.
I sat there in disbelief as I watched the screen. I cried. I was in, probably 5th grade, and yet I felt the full weight of that crash. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.
Today I feel the same as I did then. A strange combination of disbelief, grief and sorrow. It’s all I can think about now, and as I sit here at work, helping people sort out their internet service, and their billing problems, I feel like shouting at them all.
On 9/11, when I woke up to the radio/alarm, I could tell right away something was wrong. The first words that actually sank in were something like, “It is currently believed Portland is not under threat at this time as New York City… America has come under attack.” Well that got my attention in a hurry, I bolted out of bed and ran to the TV. In my head, troops were storming the east coast. War was ensuing in my homeland. When I got to the TV, terrorism just seemed so much less frightening. Since then, I’ve never felt that sense of grief that most people felt on 9/11. Just guilt for not feeling it.
I think I now know how must of you felt that day.
May God bless the crew and their families.
Lola, it is my birthday too. What a lousy way to spend the day.
Sadly, you’re probably right.
My deepest sympathies to the families of the Columbia crew.
Eric
I was a senior in HS back in 86 when the Challenger exploded.
My Business Law teacher had been one of many who had applied for that space flight. Even though he didn’t make it, we were very proud of him and were very excited about the upcoming launch.
We found it very appropriate that we were in his class at the time of the Challenger launch.
As we stood in awe and watched the shuttle rising, I looked over at my teacher with a smile. He was fascinated. I remember turning back to watch the screen… and not seconds later, the shuttle exploded. Horror immediately set in. Everyone one of us in that classroom cried. We couldn’t believe what we had just seen. Those poor people and their families. Words just couldn’t convey how we all felt.
And it’s happened again. Oh my God. My thoughts and prayers are with their families.
I watched Columbia’s maiden flight.
It was the most exciting moment of my life up to then.
She was beautiful, and I sat there in my classroom with my copy of Ray Bradbury’s R is for Rocket in my lap, and I bounced in my chair like it was Christmas.
She was beautiful.
Goddamn. I can’t even see the screen to type.
:smack:
Tripler
Insert patriotic :: flag :: smiley here.
How do you know that is the debris?
NBC has just announced that NASA has lowered the flag over the Astronaut Hall of Fame to half staff.
Ditto for the flag at the White House.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families.
I know this isn’t time to be funny, but I just heard that woman mention a “Major Nelson”.
My prayers also.
I just woke up. I saw this. I wish I was still asleep and this is a dream.
Rest in peace.
Jeezopete, they’re showing film from this mission on our cable (Comcast). I think it’s feed from the NASA channel.
To see these people going about their business in the shuttle the past few days and to know how the mission has ended is IMMEASURABLY sad to me.