spaceshuttle exploded...

[Ruben A]

just saw this in the news - columbia exploded on its way back to earth... 70 km over the ground..

it´s sad!

:(

[piscaries]

it is very sad. when i was younger and lived in florida i saw the other shuttle explode first hand. i think it was the shuttle discovery. regardless, loss of life is always sad, no matter what the cause.

[Weishaupt]

:-(

[7875]

i remember being in the fifth grade in class when a teacher came in crying and said that the space shuttle had exploded. then someone wheeled in a television and we watched it replay over and over.
is history repeating itself?

[pille'ocheoni]

im sorry to hear this. my deep regards to the families that had to go through this.

[c s]

sorry for probably seeming cynical but watching all the media feedback (even here in germany) i can't help thinking of the thousands of nameless people who get killed every day world-wide, but in a far less spectacular way and who don't get any attention at all. well actually i think it's not me being cynical but the media who declare this a world-wide tragedy, pretending they care about the lives lost while they're so happy about this 'story'. they decide when it's time to be pathetical and dramatic. is that sick or not? it also strikes me that at least in german media only the american and the israeli astronauts are dealt with more closely, a dead astronaut from india is probably not that interesting for the viewer? :-\

but of course it's a sad event.

[MUX]

i too remember very clear as a kid when the chllenger exploded.
but if i remember right i think when it launched? possible or mistake?

with all do resepect, but dying for america seems so fashionable nowadays but i would have been glad if that n'sync fool was on it eh?

Cnn must be selling advertisments space by the bucketloads.

[wheezer]

the fact that CNN dramatizes these events is undeniable, but it is equally undeniable that this may well have implications for the international space station, nasa's research into alternative space vessels, etc. I heard today that NASA has a yearly budget of $45 billion, there's a lot of American industry tied to that as well... all in all perhaps making it somewhat more newsworthy in some eyes.

[wired]

yes, bad thing... i also remember the pictures 17 years ago with "challenger"...

[invisibleplanet]

Commander: Rick Husband. had just one other space flight under his belt before he was given the role of commander. A 45-year-old Air Force colonel from Amarillo, Texas, said during a preflight interview. The former test pilot was selected as an astronaut in 1994 on his fourth try. Space flight was his lifelong passion, along with singing. Husband, a baritone, had barbershop quartet experience and sang in church choirs

Pilot: William McCool said one of the most nerve-racking parts of training was learning to draw blood — from others. Columbia’s two pilots were exempted from invasive medical tests in orbit, like blood draws. That meant he and his commander had to draw blood from their crewmates. McCool felt bad practicing on volunteers. "I didn’t want to inflict pain," he said before the flight. The former Navy test pilot became an astronaut in 1996. This was the first space flight for McCool, 41, who grew up in Lubbock, Texas.

Payload Commander: Michael Anderson loved flying, both in aircraft and spacecraft, but he disliked being launched. "There’s always that unknown," he said before the flight. Anderson, 43, the son of an Air Force man, grew up on military bases. He was flying for the Air Force when NASA chose him in 1994 as one of only a handful of black astronauts. He traveled to Russia’s Mir space station in 1998. He was a lieutenant colonel and in charge of Columbia’s dozens of experiments. His hometown was Spokane, Wash.

Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla wanted to design aircraft when she emigrated to the United States from India in the 1980s. The space program was the furthest thing from her mind. But "one thing led to another," the 41-year-old engineer said, and she was chosen as an astronaut in 1994. This is Chawla's second space flight.

Mission Specialist: David Brown was a Navy novelty: a jet pilot as well as a doctor. He was also probably the only NASA astronaut to have worked as a circus acrobat. (It was a summer job during college.) He said what he learned about "the teamwork and the safety and the staying focused" carried over to his space job. He joined the Navy after his medical internship, and held a captain's rank. NASA chose him as an astronaut in 1996. This was the 46-year-old Virginia native's first space flight.

Mission Speialist: Laurel Clark, a Navy physician who worked undersea, likened Columbia's numerous launch delays to a marathon in which the finish line kept moving out five miles. "You’ve got to slow back down and maintain a pace," she said. The 41-year-old Clark was a diving medical officer aboard submarines and then a naval flight surgeon. She became an astronaut in 1996. Clark's chief task was to help with Columbia’s science experiments. Her hometown was Racine, Wis.

Israeli Mission Specialist: Ilan Ramon, a colonel in Israel’s air force, was the first Israeli to be launched into space. His mother and grandmother survived the Auschwitz death camp. Like his Zionist father, the astronaut fought for his country, in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Lebanon War in 1982. He took part in the 1981 air strike that destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor. Ramon, 48, was selected as an astronaut in 1997 and moved to Houston in 1998 to train for a flight. He called Tel Aviv home.

[haynusbrody]

IM glad that shuttle didnt land in dallas
or alot of people would a been dead probably
i woke up early the other morning when it happened
and there was a sonic boom shook evereybodies windows
and shit

[Andreas]

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/

[grobelaar]

Originally posted by haynusbrody
IM glad that shuttle didnt land in dallas
or alot of people would a been dead probably
i woke up early the other morning when it happened
and there was a sonic boom shook evereybodies windows
and shit

If it was going for a Dallas landing, most of it would almost certainly be on the bed of the Pacific ocean by now. The Orbiter begins re-entry around about California for a landing in Florida – it’s quite a glider… :-)

Soviet Space Station technology and the Shuttle were built and designed entirely because of the cold war. Two differing philosophies over how to maintain a human presence in orbit. Here’s an interesting fact, the only reason the shuttle has wings is because the design brief stated that it needed to be under the control of the crew during landing. This was because of a cold-war fear that in a conflict it might come under missile attack during landing.

I feel sad about the crew though, spaceflight seems so run-of-the-mill these days. I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was kid, I remember watching Columbia on TV for its maiden flight – it was amazing. Seeing that spinning Telstar Satellite being launched from the cargo bay with the earth in the background is a classic image. I wonder now if they will put some money into researching a new space flight vehicle, I think its overdue, the shuttle is supposed to be a reusable space vehicle, but it practically has to be rebuilt for every mission – this was the 38th flight for Columbia.

[lucid rinehead]

the first bits of debris were for sale on ebay within an hour of the accident...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29147.html

[piscaries]

it's really wierd (well, not really..) but i saw a newscast on the explosion and it basically linked the explosion with the war on iraq. i was baffled by how they could do such a thing and then i rememered that people are stupid and will believe it.

[haynusbrody]

[If it was going for a Dallas landing, most of it would almost certainly be on the bed of the Pacific ocean by now. The Orbiter begins re-entry around about California for a landing in Florida – it’s quite a glider… :-) ]

sorry i meant {crash} [not landing]
and crash it did in various places 3o miles south
of here

[haynusbrody]

oh well
maybe i can hunt down some debri
and sell it on e-bay and get rich er something

[Sheridan]

I wouldn't be surprised. nasa officials are trying to get all the pieces from the craft but people are certainly finding them and taking them for I guess a sick form of 'memorabilia'.

[amble]

did they really find parts of bodies laying around?

i think someone has used this opportunity to clean out the cellar.

[gunjack]

Originally posted by piscaries
it's really wierd (well, not really..) but i saw a newscast on the explosion and it basically linked the explosion with the war on iraq. i was baffled by how they could do such a thing and then i rememered that people are stupid and will believe it.


are you fucking kidding me?


Originally posted by amble
did they really find parts of bodies laying around?

i think someone has used this opportunity to clean out the cellar.



: x

[Triptonizer]

I'm sorry if I hurt anybody's feelings, but the same newspaper that reported about the shuttle crash also mentioned a secret UN report that gives a figure of 500.000 possible casualties in the upcoming Iraq war; I've only got so many tears. Those astronauts went up there in full knowledge of the risks they took; you may call them brave if you like (heroes seems a bit strong), but at least they went there of their own free will. Those 500.000 poor souls will be hunted down as human targets because they were so unlucky to have been born in a rogue state rich of oil.

[grobelaar]

Originally posted by gunjack




: x

It crashed in Texas, I bought a paper first thing Monday morning, I mean first thing - I'd just got back from Nottingham - and there was loads of quotes from Texans farmers and ranchers where the debris had fallen - the language and ignorance of some of them is shocking...

One of them said "I heard a huge explosion and I thought it was Iraq overhead"

WTF? This goes beyond being stupid, these people's perception of the world is utterly unhinged, one moment they can't percieve of anything outside their own backyard and the next they are imagining that Iraq is bombing them - what with and more importantly where from? Maybe they think Iraq is next door...

Apologies to any freethinking americans on the board - but sometimes this goes beyond...

[haynusbrody]

Yes grobelaar
texans are stupid,superstitious,assholes
nothin but hillbilly rednecks,gangbangers,and illegals
out here. texas is a real shit hole. im moving back up to
denver, colorado as soon as i get my money straight.
i cant believe i was born here
shit.

[CV]

I had the unenjoyable experience of staying up all night in Tokyo hotel room , due to jet lag , when the news and investigations were going on on CNN ... its the only channel i could understand ... I had to watch it over and over again for about 10 hours... then get on a 747 home again... coincidentally , I posted a few days before the disaster , re: the star dust chips ! and NASA were mentioned in that thread for the first time on this board.. weird huh? ... personally , i feel very sad for the brave astronauts and scientists , both on the ground , in the shuttle , and up on the space station... The space program is supposed to be for the progress of all mankind , but its hard to see how travelling to space can help mankind more than , say, the Bush administration being given a vote of no confidence... But , its a lot of very dedicated work and research that has gone into the space programme , and pioneering is no easy task ... Maybe in our lifetimes , we will see a safer and more efficient method of space transport ... I remember reading something about big catapults

[grobelaar]

Another coincidence, Apple released its new 20" LCD monitor on last week - and had a lovely splash page on their website (being a total fan - this is my homepage at work - Apple is to computer game programmers as garlic is to vampires - it keeps them away from my desk) with a G4 and spanking new monitor showing a crystal clear picture of a Shuttle Launch on it.

Needless to say by Monday it was replaced by a serene scene of mountains and flowers - spooky coincidences though... I want how much printed promotion has had to be pulled...?

[invisibleplanet]

Originally posted by c s
sorry for probably seeming cynical but watching all the media feedback (even here in germany) i can't help thinking of the thousands of nameless people who get killed every day world-wide, but in a far less spectacular way and who don't get any attention at all. well actually i think it's not me being cynical but the media who declare this a world-wide tragedy, pretending they care about the lives lost while they're so happy about this 'story'. they decide when it's time to be pathetical and dramatic. is that sick or not? it also strikes me that at least in german media only the american and the israeli astronauts are dealt with more closely, a dead astronaut from india is probably not that interesting for the viewer? :-\

but of course it's a sad event.

indeed a sad day for everyone who lost someone and also will set back the space program a year.

c s and Triptonizer make a valid point..'that the death of one is a tragedy, but the death of millions only a statistic.'

i know i quote something i read before, but i can't source it, sorry

[c s]

Originally posted by cristian
The space program is supposed to be for the progress of all mankind

i wish it was. i'm afraid this romantic aspect (which i 'feel' as well, of course) is just how they sell it to us. as someone else mentioned. lunar landings for example were born out of rivalry during the cold war. there's no money for dreamers, space travel has to make sense in an economic or political way. no-one says now: "brave representants of mankind have died" - it's "american heroes" who died and that says it all in my opinion. it's rather seen as progress and prestige for a single nation (see also russia, china). and this is the contradiction to the old thought of mankind exploring space in joint effort.

[piscaries]

Originally posted by gunjack
are you fucking kidding me?

nope. and after reading the other thread on chomsky and reading some chomsky essays linked from that thread, i'm in a total world of conspiracy theory now. what takes your mind off war? a tragedy at home... i hope that's not the case but there's just too many coincidences leading from one unrealated event to another.

[actionjetzon]

Originally posted by c s
sorry for probably seeming cynical but watching all the media feedback (even here in germany) i can't help thinking of the thousands of nameless people who get killed every day world-wide, but in a far less spectacular way and who don't get any attention at all. well actually i think it's not me being cynical but the media who declare this a world-wide tragedy, pretending they care about the lives lost while they're so happy about this 'story'. they decide when it's time to be pathetical and dramatic. is that sick or not? it also strikes me that at least in german media only the american and the israeli astronauts are dealt with more closely, a dead astronaut from india is probably not that interesting for the viewer? :-\

but of course it's a sad event.

I´m with you...i have heard in tv about another funeral service take place today.
Its sad and stuff, but everywhere are die loads of peoples, and nobody interest it when children die because of undernutrition in africa for example.
Its another pair of shoes when you fly into the outer space, theres always a risk with it...

[Ruben A]

last year two russian airplanens crashed into eachother in the air.... around 120 people died... falling to the ground.. mostly young students from a school. Do you remember that?
That was terrible!

:(
But flying into space is ofcourse something else - and extraordinaery.. No doubt everybody must hear about this for some time. Changing the spaceprogram or break it down is though a bad idea. (which luckelly won´t happen this time...)
Just concentrate on how to be better and more safe in travelling... that´s how it has been done for years.

Keep going strong!