Saturday, February 01, 2003

More tributes Steve Bogart makes this contribution:   Richard Hall also makes an elegant statement: In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Brendan Loy, a USC student, has a stupendous minute by minute update with many links, here. And, David Pinto was a guest of David Brown's at Columbia's Launch.  He talks about the experience and getting to know the astronaut. 10:10:23 PM

Fitting Tributes Jerry Pournelle, the itenerant columnist from Byte and a true advocate of space exploration, has this to say: O Spirit, whom the Father sent To spread abroad the firmament; O Wind of heaven, by thy might, Save all who dare the eagle's flight.        And keep them by the watchful care        From every peril in the air.   Columbia is down. It was inevitable that we would lose another shuttle, and statistically likelier that it would be the first one; none of which makes it any easier when it happens. Because an Israeli war hero -- he led the strike against Iraq's nuclear research facility -- was aboard, the speculation will be intense: was this a terrorist operation?  The likelihood is low. As I understand it, Columbia began to break up at 200,000 feet or more. This is far too high for nearly any kind of attack; I can think of munitions we could put on an F-15 that might do it, but it would not be easy, and it would be pretty obvious that it had been done. (The F-15 of course wouldn't get anywhere near that high.) There is also another possible attack against the bird when in orbit that might cause tile damage. This could be overlooked and cause it to break up hours or days later on re-entry. This too is extremely unlikely.  The shuttles are old, and Columbia was the oldest. Any malfunction in the controls in the flight regime can get her into an unrecoverable attitude.; which is probably what happened. The work of test pilots is dangerous and those who explore the boundaries of our knowledge know the risks. Go out to Edwards Air Force Base and look at the street names if you doubt it. Eternal rest grant them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. And I have this letter: Dr. Pournelle: Mr. Heinlein wrote a verse in one of his short stories, of the Prayer for Travelers: Almighty Ruler of the all,  Whose Power extends to great and small,  Who guides the stars with steadfast law,  Whose least creation fills with awe,       O grant thy mercy and thy grace,       To those who venture into space. Amen. And, from a NY Times editorial: America Mourns, Again. For the second time in the space age, we were jolted out of a long period of safety in exploring the world outside our planet. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 9:49:17 PM

Why? Columbia collectibles soar on eBay. Within hours of the Columbia tragedy, hundreds of items featuring the space shuttle are listed for sale as prices climb. By Scott Ard, Staff Writer, CNET News.com. [CNET News.com] Such behavior is unnecessary, inconsiderate and rude.  And, that's all I've got to say about that. 9:40:00 PM

More links Dave Winer is, in Doc's words, "all over this thing"  Dave points to Scott Adams who is compiling a long list of links 3:40:40 PM

NY TimesMore Disaster Stirs Already Unsettled Feelings Across the Country. This morning's tragedy fell as a harsh blow to a nation still struggling with the aftermath of the most devastating terrorist attack in its history. By Todd S. Purdum. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] Triumphant Return of Israeli Space Hero Turns Into Nightmare. It is not too much to say that along with an Israeli flag, Col. Ilan Ramon carried Israel's dreams with him into space. By James Bennet. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] 1:48:49 PM

From John Robb Once again Dave is providing excellent coverage of breaking news on the event.  I wonder what is going to happen to the three astronauts on the space station given that the three remaining shuttles are likely to be grounded for an extended period of time. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 1:47:37 PM

Doc adds more Spacing out    Columbia was the first (and for now the last) shuttle launched into space.   The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on Columbia.   The remaining shuttles are Endeavor, Discovery and Atlantis.   NASA considered mothballing Columbia in 2001.   NASA's servers are being hit pretty hard right now, clearly.   My guess is that the current International Space Station crew will return on a Soyuz flight and there will be no further launches for at least two years. (Here's the current schedule, which is now on hold.)   This will back up all kinds of stuff that depends on shuttle flights, though the ISS will be hardest hit. The second lesson    I was going to get up and watch the Shuttle re-enter the atmosphere this morning, but forgot to set the alarm.   Instead, a few minutes ago, I got a call from my sister, whose voice sounded just like it did when she called before dawn on September 11, 2001.   Now I'm sitting here with a six year old boy who loves aviation and space travel, talking about what happened to Columbia, and how something so adventurous and wonderful could end so badly.   It's been almost exactly seventeen years since the last Shuttle disaster. Not long afterwards I wrote Accidental Lessons: Reflections on the Challenger Tragedy.   I'm sure we'll learn from this one too. [Doc Searls Weblog] 1:46:25 PM

Off to Scitrek To visit the Challenger Learning Center.  I will take notes. 1:13:07 PM

NY Times kicks in: White House Rules Out Terror; NASA Sends Search Teams. Space shuttle Columbia apparently broke apart in flames as it streaked over Texas toward its scheduled landing today. By James Barron. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] And the Christian Science Monitor 1:12:22 PM

From Gilmor's E-Journal: The space station and shuttle program were under fire for other, good reasons. They do little for true exploration of space. A reexamination of the entire space program -- and maybe turning it into a truly global affair -- would be smart at this point. But we would dishonor the memory of the astronauts, and take away from our own future, if we let this tragedy turn us away from the heavens. Space is humanity's destiny, if it has one. We are an exploring, expansionist race. We must go on.[link] 1:04:37 PM

From The Philosophical Cowboy:   The Cowboy offers these thoughts and the following links: Ha'aretz the Israeli daily, has been quick in getting up coverage of events, and reporting on Sharon placing a call offering his sympathies to the father of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut. "Even before the Columbia exploded, the Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation had announced a new medal dedicated to the first Israeli astronaut. The medal will now become a remembrance medal, spokesperson Janny Hamoi said. The medal was designed by artist Aharon Shabo, who chose to integrate a verse from Psalms in it: "His excellency is over Israel, And his strength is in the skies." 12:57:47 PM

Also from bene_diction: If you have been watching the CBC coverage and heard a remark about American 'arrogance' (I didn't) you can contact the CBC Ombudsman. via Instapundit Update:Ranting and Roaring is also watching CBC and like me, has not heard any inappropriate comments at this time. He is also covering all major media channels. Daimnation has information on the CBC coverage. 12:49:19 PM

ISS has three crew still on board... And comments to Doc's blog indicate the soyuz may be the best way to bring them back. 12:38:31 PM

The community speaks... Receive a few emails from the page I put up to capture thoughts from the blog community. Jay Manifold offers this quote from Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson.  His blog site has a picture from National Weather Service radar tracking the debris. Dean Peters sends these thoughts: Two more links/tributes to our fallen heros: http://blogs4god.com/linker/article.php?a=000954 http://www.healyourchurchwebsite.com/archives/000672.shtml#000672 The former is of interest, as we focus on the crew. In fact, one of the people involved with blogs4God was going to interview the Columbia Commander after reading a blog about him. From Bene_diction who notes: Here you go.... I found a couple of Canadians covering this. http://benediction.houreleven.com/archives/000193.php 12:29:48 PM

Somber Day... I was (and still am) planning to take my kids to SciTrek (Atlanta's Science museum) to see the new Challenger Learning Center.  The visit will certainly be melancholoy now.  In fact, the Scitrek site has a message posted regarding Columbia: SciTrek offers sincere sympathy to the families of the astronauts on the Columbia mission. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this very difficult time. Our new Challenger Learning Center represents a tribute to the lives of the astronauts that perished in 1986. The families of the victims of that mission founded the Challenger organization to ensure that the world understood how their loved ones lived and why their passion for space exploration was unparalleled.   12:10:50 PM

Slashdot  11:18 am  572 comments on this one less than 2 hours after news broke.  Unfortunately, some of the comments indicate poor taste. 11:22:13 AM

Image link 11:17:33 AM

Glenn Reynolds reports on Shuttle disaster SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA is out of communication and lost from radar. It should have landed three minutes ago. At this point, it can only be presumed to have been lost on reentry. CNN has photos of it above Dallas, with no obvious problems. Is there a connection with the presence of an Israeli astronaut? Probably not, but who knows? UPDATE: Just saw CNN play the video from Dallas -- I was going earlier on something they had said that I guess I misunderstood -- and it looks as if it shows the Shuttle breaking up. A single trail breaks up into multiple vapor trails as it moves. They're gone. May they rest in peace. ANOTHER UPDATE: Here's the CNN.com report. People have phoned CNN to report a "loud impact." Here's Spaceflight Now's real-time update page. At the moment it notes ...ANOTHER UPDATE: Boy, that didn't take long. Reportedly, a Canadian Broadcasting Company interviewer has blamed "American Arrogance" for the crash. Follow the link for more information, and a link to the CBC Ombudsman. I'll let you know if I find out more on this. [Instapundit.com] 11:13:14 AM

The second lesson    I was going to get up and watch the Shuttle re-enter the atmosphere this morning, but forgot to set the alarm.   Instead, a few minutes ago, I got a call from my sister, whose voice sounded just like it did when she called before dawn on September 11, 2001.   Now I'm sitting here with a six year old boy who loves aviation and space travel, talking about what happened to Columbia, and how something so adventurous and wonderful could end so badly.   It's been almost exactly seventeen years since the last Shuttle disaster. Not long afterwards I wrote Accidental Lessons: Reflections on the Challenger Tragedy.   I'm sure we'll learn from this one too. [Doc Searls Weblog] 11:07:23 AM

Wow.  The Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 11:06:43 AM