Space shuttle columbia lost

[USMC Sniper 0]

My condolences to the family's of the dead. May their souls rest in a better place.

[Milkman 1]

Yeah, it seems like we always have some incompetent fool running the FBI, CIA, NSA, NASA, USAF, NAVY, USMC, ARMY, ATF, or DEA when something important goes boom in their department. In this case, NASA, they will probly ask for the director's resignation in about, oh 3 hours.

[theavonlady 2]

News briefing staring at NASA now.

[Goeth 0]

Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.

[kegetys 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,20:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

But it was an expensive shuttle too :/

[Longinius 1]

Uhm, to be honest, what IS the big deal? Yes, people died and that is quite sad. But there are bigger accidents weekly all over the world and hardly anyone outside of the immidiate area gives a damn. Buses crashing, trains derailing, boats sinking and so on. This was actually a quite small accident compared to other stuff. Just seven dead.

Yeah, I feel sorry for the families. But I still dont see the big deal.

[ralphwiggum 6]

the problem is that 1)don't know the cause of disintegration 2)even if the foam had something to do with it, how was the decision made.

in Challenger days, the engineers and etc. at NASA were concerned about the day's temperature. there were no records of how O-ring performed in certain temperture and had to guess how temperature would affect the performance. unfortunately they made some statistical conceptual error and concluded that it was ok to go ahead with launch.

in Columnbia case, we don't know the rason, so we have to wait. if it was due to foam, then we need to see if the decision from engineers were sound and valid.

[Wilco 944]

Watching live news feed right now.

[Goeth 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Kegetys @ Feb. 01 2003,19:22)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,20:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

But it was an expensive shuttle too :/<span id='postcolor'>

Maybe expensive but with that money you could have done some good work here in planet earth.

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Longinius @ Feb. 01 2003,19:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Uhm, to be honest, what IS the big deal? Yes, people died and that is quite sad. But there are bigger accidents weekly all over the world and hardly anyone outside of the immidiate area gives a damn. Buses crashing, trains derailing, boats sinking and so on. This was actually a quite small accident compared to other stuff. Just seven dead.

Yeah, I feel sorry for the families. But I still dont see the big deal.<span id='postcolor'>

I don't know. I surprised myself since I was pretty downbeat after hearing the news.

I take usually news on plane accidents and stuff like that with a certain distance. Yet I took this incident pretty hard.

I can't explain for this irrationality. I do think that the space programs are one of the greatest accomplishments of the human kind. I have a great respect for the astronauts too.

Perhaps it's that, but I don't know. I'm perfectly aware that it is irrational but this really ruined my entire day.

[ralphwiggum 6]

for those who can't see why this is a big deal:

1) space exploration was and still is a mystical subject for many ppl.

2) space exploration is cumulative product of current science and enginerring feat.

this many ppl attach some sort of value like 'hope' to the space exploration.

this incident is unique that it was during landing phase.

[Wilco 944]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,19:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

Alright then, 6 of your family dies, so what....nobody cares about your losses. That's how you say it.

[5thSFG.CNUTZ 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,13:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Kegetys @ Feb. 01 2003,19:22)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,20:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

But it was an expensive shuttle too :/<span id='postcolor'>

Maybe expensive but with that money you could have done some good work here in planet earth.<span id='postcolor'>

So the research accomplished from the space program is worthless? I think not. They do all kinds of research in flight on all kinds of issues that help us. You just may not see the direct results yet.

[Badgerboy 0]

With the amount of technical difficulties with shuttle launches, I'm surprised this hasn't happened earlier. Launches and recoveries are very dangerous, and sadly, it was only a matter of time until another incident like Challenger occured.

[Winters 1]

NASA's track record is still better than any airlines. only 3 or 4 fatal accidents in its 30+ years history.

[kegetys 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Wilco @ Feb. 01 2003,20:32)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,19:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

Alright then, 6 of your family dies, so what....nobody cares about your losses.  That's how you say it.<span id='postcolor'>

If my family would die (5 people) I would not expect it to be all around the news. Except it they would die on board a space shuttle I suppose...

[Gollum1 0]

Sheesh, there´s a thread right under this one that says

"40 dead in Zimbabwe train crash" but there isn´t even a second page of posts there. Who cares about Zimbabweans, right?

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Winters @ Feb. 01 2003,19:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">NASA's track record is still better than any airlines. only 3 or 4 fatal accidents in its 30+ years history.<span id='postcolor'>

You have to compare it to the number of flights. There has been 3 fatal accidents in 113 flights. That's a lot.

[Milkman 1]

Goeth, im guessing your not american, and dont share the same grief as we do. Hell, i probly wouldnt give a shit if something horrible happened in your country.

[Guest]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Gollum1 @ Feb. 01 2003,19:39)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Sheesh, there´s a thread right under this one that says

"40 dead in Zimbabwe train crash" but there isn´t even a second page of posts there. Who cares about Zimbabweans, right? <span id='postcolor'>

The difference is that the astronauts were doing something very important for all man kind. They knew the dangers but did it anyway.

There is a big difference if you die for a good cause or for nothing.

[PHY_Hawkeye 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (denoir @ Feb. 01 2003,18:40)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Winters @ Feb. 01 2003,19:37)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">NASA's track record is still better than any airlines. only 3 or 4 fatal accidents in its 30+ years history.<span id='postcolor'>

You have to compare it to the number of flights. There has been 3 fatal accidents in 113 flights. That's a lot.<span id='postcolor'>

2 fatal accidents in 113 missions.

The Apollo 1 Mission wasn't a Shuttle incident, so is't included in the 113 missions.

[ralphwiggum 6]

this all comes down to one thing. uniqueness of the news. train accidents are more common than space shuttle accidents.

thus a shuttle accident is more likely to be a news material.

[Goeth 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Wilco @ Feb. 01 2003,19:32)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Goeth[kyllikki] @ Feb. 01 2003,19:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Couple of people dead, so what? What is this big grief s..t.<span id='postcolor'>

Alright then, 6 of your family dies, so what....nobody cares about your losses.  That's how you say it.<span id='postcolor'>

Exactly. People die everyday and i don´t see a reason why this should be any different and special occasion. If you feel extra pain in this case maybe you sould put up dead astronauts foundation or something.

[FallenPaladin 0]

My condolences to the families of the astronauts. May their souls find peace.

[Longinius 1]

"The difference is that the astronauts were doing something very important for all man kind. They knew the dangers but did it anyway.

There is a big difference if you die for a good cause or for nothing."

Come on. They were just doing their job just like any airline pilot or boatsman. These shuttle flights have become fairly routine, its a known and familiar process.

Had it been astronauts headed for Mars, I would actually feel sad about it. But spaceshuttles flying into space, to orbit earth, and then land again... well, that just dosnt seem so special any more.

And yes, I understand that this effects people interested in space explorations etc. It still does not explain how the lives of 6 Americans and an Israeli can get more attention than 40 Africans. Their deaths are no sadder than that of their trainfairing friends.