TalkBack for Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

Harry here... I hate waking up to news like this. I remember sitting in my classroom in Seymour, Tx when Challenger was lost. We were watching the launch live in the English Class. I remember the jokes before the launch about how we wish they'd send our teachers into space, but all that juvenile humor fell to horror when the Challenger exploded. If I shut my eyes, I can still see every second of footage that was taken... That "Y" of smoke in the sky... It is one of those horrifying moments burned into my memory, like the moment the second World Trade Center collapsed... For some reason, the first one going didn't horrify me as much as the second one... Just the feeling... they aren't there anymore.

It is extremely early on this event, there's only been an hour and a half since it happened... This Talkback is to document our feelings about seeing the coverage on CNN, MS/NBC, web sources and the network news sources. By the end of the day I'm willing to bet we see some images that disgust us and anger us. Inevitably they'll show clips of some Arabic crowds dancing and happy because of the loss of the Israeli Astronaut - and our feelings will be outrage and furor... And frankly by the end of the day I expect to have the feeling of sickness I have in the pit of my large stomach turn to anger over how the media saturation coverage of a tragic events turns the event into entertainment.

Already we've heard the 'could be terrorism' angle... We already know it was too high for a land based missile to hit. Soon they'll begin talking about the insulation that hit the wing on take-off and the decision of NASA to let them come back without adequately checking the wing out... There will be blame being thrown back and forth... Wild and rampant speculation by so-called experts... and weeks from now... after all the rubble that can be found has been studied at a hangar somewhere, we'll hear what really happened, and it'll get a few minutes time.

Am I cynical about things like this... Yes. Yes, because I know in my heart that this was an accident. One of those things that happens. It shouldn't delay another flight by a second. It shouldn't slow down the space programs. If anything we need to step up our space programs, work with the world to inspire and develop and innovate through the thrill of discovery. In my opinion, the work that happens in Space is pure. It is the dream of countless tomorrows that are better than today. To me, Space Programs unify rather than divide. They bring people together, rather than separate. NASA is one of the pure and greatest things we have in the United States and I hate more than anything to have this feeling in my stomach that this event, this tragedy will be used to further cut NASA's budgets, like what happened after Challenger. To further limit our involvement and exploration. That doesn't honor the memories of those lost today and before, what would honor them, is to boldly go forward.

That's how I feel about all this.

Harry