At 9 AM this morning, the Space Shuttle disintegrated during reentry.

MUCH SADNESS

G4From128k

by Day: Mild-Mannered Engineer and Trapeze(tm) Artist
by Night: Colonel of Truth, Justice, and the Macintosh Way
Reserve Officer in 68kMLA Cantankerous Coot Contingent
& User of the Hockey Puck Mouse of Radial Symmetry

As I said looking back on the challenger incident (I was barely even a thought then), I can only be thankful that there are so few accidents in this space program. The amount of dangerous work every single mission is, and only two shuttle accidents have happened, I am quite thankful. However this does not overshadow such tragic events.

~The Penguin

"One slip and down the hole we fall"

I didn't talk for 3 days, and didn't start behaving normally for a week. My parents were very worried.

No such hope this time.
I have to work today and tomorrow, on the phones here at the ISP.

~Marchie

People dying is not good

shaktiman

also:
Apollo I - 27 Jan 1967
Challenger - 28 Jan 1986
Columbia - 01 Feb 2003
eerie coincidence...

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Vintage Camera Liberation Army
The non-authorized offshoot of the 68kmla
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Apollo I: 27 Jan 1967
Challenger: 28 Jan 1986
Columbia: 01 Feb 2003
eerie coincidence...

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Vintage Camera Liberation Army
The non-authorized offshoot of the 68kmla
68k Macs Liberated: 2
...because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

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I know

-danny
You! What PLANET is this!
-- McCoy, "The City on the Edge of Forever", stardate 3134.0
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68k Macintosh Liberation Army
68k Macs Liberated: 3

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when I was 5, Challenger exploded, as I was watching it live on TV.

I didn't talk for 3 days, and didn't start behaving normally for a week. My parents were very worried.

No such hope this time.
I have to work today and tomorrow, on the phones here at the ISP.

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jt ™.
Trash Hauler: call sign: eight-ball
C.O. AC-130H SpecOps 68kMLAAF

I remember I was in 3rd or 4th grade when the Challanger accident occured.

Many condolences go out to the families of the victims...

Today started out so perfectly- I spent the morning laying in bed with my girlfriend Courtney, just enjoying being in love. I got out of the house, and I was walking to meet my sister at her job, when Courtney called me on my cell phone. She'd just turned on the news, and, knowing what a space buff I am, she called to let me know what was going on. At this point, it was only about 8 or 9-am here in Nevada, so not too long after the disaster. I rushed to my sister's job, hooked up my PowerBook to the network there, and we watched in horror as stream after stream of news-feed came down, showing the fiery demise of Columbia and her crew.

I just can't say how deeply this has effected me. All the news channels keep harping on what nationality's the crew were- "This guy's from Israel, that lady's from India...." etc., but all I can think is that the whole of humanity has suffered a great loss today. Those people, who so willingly put their lives on the line to ascend into space, are in my eyes the living embodiment of everything good and pure the human race is capable of. When they go into orbit, or enter the ISS, they're not just doing their job- they're building, with their bare hands, a real future for humanity! I get so angry, every time I hear someone moaning "Oh, NASA is such a waste of money- look at all the problems we have here on Earth!"- they just don't get it! Maybe I've read one too many SciFi stories, but I really believe in the ideas and ideals of the Space Program! How the hell are we, as a species, supposed to aspire to greatness if we turn our backs on the heaven's above?! All throughout history, mankind has shed so much blood, killed so many, just for the right to 'own' a plot of dirt, a font of water, a well of oil... Finally, we've found a frontier that no one owns, and no one must die defending or invading! The loss of the brave explorers aboard Columbia is a tragic moment in human history, but at least they died as peaceful explorers, rather then as conquering invaders, as has been the case with most other 'new frontiers'.
I guess my point is that, while we must take the time to reflect on what we can learn from today's tragedy, we MUST GO ON! Not just to honor the dead, but because it's the right thing to do...... the only thing to do.
When (not if!) NASA's budget is cut back even further, we've gotta SPEAK UP! If you feel like I do, then we must make our voices heard, loud and clear: Instead of wearing blinders, our leaders must take the initiative to not abandon one of the greatest endeavors ever undertaken by anyone, anywhere, but rather to nurture and support the research and development of the space program. Again, it's the right thing to do.
I can't help but wonder- would this have happened, if NASA had gotten better financial / political support? I've heard stories (true?) of people at NASA who have had to resort to scrounging eBay and junk shops, looking for old/obsolete parts, because they just don't have the money to keep up with current tech. for the shuttle/ISS programs. Not to mention the sad state of the Russian space program- Star City is little more then a ghost town these days... makes me wonder where all this is headed.
If the American government had spent a little more on NASA, and held off building one or two new bombers, well.... you can see where I'm going.
Okay, I'll ease off the ranting for a bit- sorry, folks, I just really needed to let some of that out.
Thanks,
SpaceBoy

.

Let this period represent a moment of silence for all those involved.

-------------------------
DJ Corps
"Bass is Good"

let's go find Mir! we'll all use that one for awhile :P

I think that it may be because they are running shuttles that are 23 years old... my school has a hard time running 19 year old busses... what makes them think that a shuttle that's 4 years older will work very well?

they say that it's age is more accurately measured in number of missions than the year it was made... but age has something to do with it I'm sure

I just hope that they may be working on some other possibilities for ways to do these missions... including, a new type of craft...

quote:

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This is a terrible day, as bad as the day the Challenger was lost. But
it should inspire us to redouble our efforts in space.

It is way past time for a new launch system to replace the aging shuttle
fleet.

You can help. Join the National Space Society, the Planetary Society,
and the Space Frontier Foundation (I belong to all of them). Keep after
your senators and representatives. Support manned (and unmanned) space
exploration, and the commercialization of space, to help bring down the
costs.

Let us all praise those valiant astronauts who gave their lives in
pursuit of the future of humanity and the unlimited opportunities that
await us in space, the next frontier, "where no one has gone before."

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Edited by - mrlynn on 02 Feb 2003 09:36:32

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The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program.
--Larry Niven

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jt ™.
Trash Hauler: call sign: eight-ball
C.O. AC-130H SpecOps 68kMLAAF

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I think that it may be because they are running shuttles that are 23 years old... my school has a hard time running 19 year old busses... what makes them think that a shuttle that's 4 years older will work very well?

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Warrior maclover5
68k Macintosh Liberation Army
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7

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I'm not much of a joiner, but I just might . . .

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hehehehe... well none of us have too much of a problem running 19 year old macs... so I guess that NASA is fine....

Official 68k videographer

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Warrior maclover5
68k Macintosh Liberation Army
Number of 68ks Liberated: 7

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