Columbia has crashed

[Wolfe]

8am this (Sat) morn the shuttle Columbia exploded and went down over texas.

[Bruce]

Yes, I saw that on the news. It is very sad; the 144th flight of the Space Shuttle. It must be terrible for all the family members gathered there at the space center waiting.
Bruce

[tallmacky]

I just turned on the TV and saw this, not good at all. Reminds me of what had happen in 1985

[EXIT63]

God Bless the families of the astronauts who gave their lives for the study of science and for the service to their country.

And God Bless America.

[tounge]

Amen. Thanks to brave people in the space program, things are learned to advance humanity. Sometimes, the price is to pay is life itself. May they Rest in Peace.

[Elana]

G-d bless every one of them. They experienced more in these last two weeks than any of us will experience in a life time. May they rest in peace. My heart is heavy. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[tallmacky]

I especially thought it was great that a pretty diverse group had come togother from more then one nationality, race, and religion.

America has had some very hard loses recently

[bundyburger]

eeeeeek.

1985 was a JFK like moment, even for us Aussies and I\'m sure most parts of the world.

[Wolfe]

it is humbling to think of the \'heros\' that walk amoung us every day of our lifes, with so little thought as to who they are, until the time comes when life shows us.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Just for the record, the Challenger disaster was in 1986

[seadove]

May their souls rest in peace.All 7 heroes.

[CptKipling]

Ditto to all the comments made previously, but on a more clinical and emotionally removed note: this could set back space exploration by years, again.

[Wolfe]

no, it will only strengthen the resolve to make what we\'ve done better. without failure one can not achieve greatness. a journey can not end untill a step is taken to begin. they are not the first to have given thier lifes in the name of progress/research, alas, they will not be the last either.
it is only if we quit that they died in vain, this we can not do w/o dishoror to them and ourselves.

[CptKipling]

Ultimately yes, but look at Challenger.

[Wolfe]

what about it?..it didnt stop the program.

[CptKipling]

Didn\'t send anything into space for 3 years

[Wolfe]

not true, 18months. challenger went down in 86 and they flew 2 missions again in 88. 5 more missions in 89.

[CptKipling]

Ok someone lied to me.

But never the less it was slowed down some.

[Wolfe]

it will this time as well as every shuttle will now go through a extensive exam 4 stress cracks i\'m sure,,and remember..the last time they did shut it down(in 86) they did so to retro fit all the shuttles to fix the o-ring leakage prob.( that took some redesign and that takes time to design, and then make, the new parts) [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[tallmacky]

I apologize about the mixup of years of the challenger disaster, I was only 1 at the time so I had the date a bit mixed up, Years Later on I just remember my mom telling me about it, and the reactions of many.

[Wolfe]

do a web search on \'shuttles\' and you can get a complete history of all of them and the missions they flew . also can get the mission codes used and who they where flow for and what the mission was,.(less it was a secert govr mission of course)

[**DONOTDELETE**]

We have 2 americans and one russian in space on the international space station. So we will not be waitng 3 years to send another shuttle into space, at least i hope not because they need food. This is a different accident, a different time it will not be anything close to challenger. We are going to go where no man has gone before. God bless America!!!

[Watcher]

About time they invested some $ into some new technology. That is building a new shuttle minus the heat tiles and instead some of the new super strong materials coating which will ensure this never happens again.
Given NASA has had its bugdet cut time and time again its no surprise.
Also china is planning to launch a manned space mission and lunar mission within the next 10 years anyway, Competition will ensure the space program continues again.

[bundyburger]

When Challenger disaster happened the space shuttle was a baby. That O-Ring problem was a major design fault/oversight. This time it\'ll turn out to be quality control (I know, they take it seriously) or fatigue of some sort at my guess ( being the \"expert\" i am. LOL) . Just look at the number of missions since Challenger. Will be interesting to see what the verdict is. I guess we won\'t know for a while. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

Watcher\'s right about the tiles, if indeed that turns out to be the case. The next generation of orbiters is needed. Right from day dot they\'ve had trouble with the tiles coming off haven\'t they? ( I think I recall )

...It\'s a pity it\'s so expensive to move forward. I\'ll break open my piggy bank and see what I\'ve got. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[CptKipling]

Some new design would be usefull, but it\'ll be so darn expensive!

I think we have the technology, but not the funding.