NASA's Lost Shuttle

[Storm Wolf]

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas, Feb. 1 — With the nation watching in grief and horror, NASA began the gut-wrenching process Saturday of trying to find out why the space shuttle Columbia plummeted to Earth in flames in central Texas, taking the lives of all seven astronauts aboard.

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe said Columbia broke up in flames as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, spreading debris over hundreds of miles of Texas, just 16 minutes before the 100-ton shuttle was to have landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

:cry:

It was all over the news today and I just wanted to see how many people knew that it had happened and if they wanted to hold a conversation on it. I've already begun to hear rumors about the tiles being damaged, and that NASA didn't repair them like they should have. I seen most of the footage taken of it, when it started to break apart over Texas...and quite frankly I was stunned, it has been so long since a shuttle has come to an unfortunate end such as this. Well if you have any extra info on it, it will be appriciated....

[Tokka-B]

Yea, I couldn't really help not hearing about it...that is a shame, cause that was the shuttle that started it all and inspired me into astronomy... :(

The thing is, if you have one tiny little error in the shuttle, the whole thing system can get messed up, oh well, I hope they continue on more missions to outerspace and such...knowledge is power

[That Matt Guy]

They are finding pieces of debris all over the place around here, I saw on the local news someone had found one the crew's helmets laying in a field south of Dallas. :(

[beaker]

I remember the horror of watching the Challenger explode on live tv(almost 17 years ago to the day as this crash) when I was in 3rd grade.

Of course, we didnt have ebay back then for these idiots to be selling the debris on. man, some people.

[Jephael]

Boy those jerks don't have any respect for NASA officials, especially considering people in that area have been warned not to touch anything that falls to the ground.

[Reznorite420]

cause that was the shuttle that started it allThe first launch of it was back in 1981, making it more or less 22 years ago. When my sister told me about it yesterday afternoon, at first I was totally shocked, then I came here to the forums and wondered why nobody had posted a thread about it yet, and now here it is.

Though this is a tragedy, it's completely understandable as to why it happened. Just as I said above, the Columbia was finished around 1981, thus making it an old orbiter. I also read on a news page that this was its 113TH flight! I would think that after so many years and flights it would finally wear out without constant maintainance, and that's what both my sister and I were thinking as we read the article. This should teach NASA to take a little bit more care of their shuttles.

[Karpo_007]

Yeah a true Tragedy...

[Tokka-B]

like everything, ebay has its goods and bads....these people have no sympothy....

[That Matt Guy]

I imagine most of the wreckage that appeared on ebay was fake anyway.

[Storm Wolf]

that reminds me...my uncle was in the Navy when challenger blew up...he helped recover some of the body parts and wreckage...he actually took a tile from the ship...he says he wished he'd never done it though....

[Tokka-B]

I wish he'd never done it either...

[Storm Wolf]

yeah...but we are all young and stupid at some point in life...that was just his time...

anyways I heard they were finding body parts and sending them to a lab for Identification.

[Kameko]

The shuttle flew almost directly over my house. It was supposedly already breaking up at that point. If I had gotten up early enough, I could have watched it fly overhead. As it is, I woke up about an hour and a half too late, only to have the news crew of my talk radio station inform me that NASA had lost contact with the shuttle as it flew over North Texas. I turned on the tv, and started crying when I saw the footage taken by a local news photographer.

It makes me wonder, after the Oklahoma City Bombing, September 11th, and now 'Tragedy Over Texas: The Columbia Disaster', as they've dubbed it, just how many 'where were you when' moments I'm going to live through. I should probably include the Challenger Disaster in that list, though I don't remember it -- I was three years old at the time, and still lived in Florida.

[Reznorite420]

Holy lipnicki, Kameko! I just noticed you're from Tejas!

[Kameko]

I read in yesterday's paper that more human remains have been found, including fingers, one of which was still wearing a ring, and a human heart. :tcry:



((((Reznorite420="Holy lipnicki, Kameko! I just noticed you're from Tejas!" Yup. Er, what's a 'lipnicki'?))))

[Donatello02]

I'm suprised they can still find remains after such an explosion. Such a shame.

[Reznorite420]

Er, what's a 'lipnicki'?Heh...well, there's a kid actor with the last name "Lipnicki", and from then on, I just used it in expressions of amazement...don't ask me why :roll: