Columbia Crash

Its a sad day for space travel. The latest guess is that a small piece of the plane fell off at launch and loosened some heat tiles, which fell off during the return to earth. I hear sick freaks are already trying to sell pieces of the space shuttle on Ebay...

posted by Cody Phipps on Feb 01, 2003 12:25PM

Yea man that is some sick shit who would want something like that any way. When I first heard about it i thought we were at war with Iraq or something then i thought it was a terrorist attack on the shuttle but i have found out more since hearing about.

posted by Ron Small on Feb 04, 2003 03:48PM

I remember waking up that morning and going to look for a sports score on an online newspaper. When I saw the huge headline about the space shuttle, I thought it had to be some kind of sick practical joke or something. Then I looked at all the other sites, and I knew it was real. It was really weird, because the night before we had all been talking about the Challenger explosion, trying to figure out what year it happened. Anyway, I thought this email was pretty amazing.

posted by Zach Beane on Feb 04, 2003 03:52PM

There are many endeavors in the world today in which lives balance upon a razor's edge. If each possessed even a few of the worthy chracteristics of the Columbia, the world would probably be a much better place. Ufortunately, at this very moment decisions are being made by leaders who, in many peoples' eyes, are unqualified to make them, assuming anyone is truly qualified to play dice with another's life, with the implicit understanding that lives will undeniably be lost. For what? In this there are no clear reason, only labyrinthine foggy excuses and the sub rosa politics of senators and dead presidents. Part of the tragedy of the crash of the Columbia is that innocent men and women perished in flames. But at least they went into it with their eyes open, they had the choice of whether to risk their lives, knowing full well the possibilities. They were volunteers. Others do not have that choice. They are truly innocent, victims of circumstance, and US bombs will stalk them like the shadow of death itself. If the Columbia was a tragedy, it pales in comparison to the tragedies that may come. If this happens and there is an axis of evil involved, I fear we would need to look no further than the mirror to find it. Where there's doubt, there is no doubt.

posted by Clint Phipps on Feb 10, 2003 01:06PM