Archive through February 01, 2003
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Columbia Break-Up (ARCHIVE):
Archive through February 01, 2003
Faerygdds | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:13 am     Some idiot picked up a piece of debris.. put it in his car and took it to the Sheriff's Station and dropped it on his desk... Now they are telling him that he will definitely get cancer and he has to get rid of all the contaminated materials (his clothes, car, etc) or his family will suffer the same fate... Folks.. if you see debris... LEAVE IT ALONE! Sorry for calling the guy an idiot, but it's all over the news and radio... and reality check... dontcha think Nasa would want to know where it landed??? |
Faerygdds | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:14 am     Sadie... the debris is toxic begacuse of the fuel and other toxins within the shuttle. They are saying it BECAUSE of the souvenier collectors in that they don't want them to DIE, but the stuff is hazardous! |
Sadiesmom | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:18 am     Well after burning through re-entry, some may indeed be contaminated, I just think what you said about NASA wanting to know hwere it landed is really the issue and not having peope taking pieces home. You know that the petrified forest is disappearing very slowly to collectors, I had to take pieces from my adult, mature woman friend's hands because she didn't thik a few pieces would matter. Little pieces build up to big pieces to the whole enchilada. It is important that as many pieces be retrieved by NASA from the original site. I think that is why they are saying it is contaminated and dangerous as well as that some pieces that may be contaminated. |
Spygirl | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:20 am     I'm in north central texas and have heard and seen nothing. I just learned of this here since I haven't turned on the TV this morning. I've got to go catch up on what is happening. |
Spygirl | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:25 am     Holy moley. It is all over the local news. They are giving out numbers for people here to call if they find debris. Yikes, this is scary and very sad. |
Sadiesmom | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:28 am     Has all the debris come down or are they warning you some is still coming? |
Mware | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:30 am     News reports I'm hearing in CT are that debris could still be coming down for a couple of hours, or even longer. |
Webkitty | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:32 am     Nachadoches(sp) Texas is where CNN is reporting a lot of debris down. I believe it is toxic. I just hope after Nasa or whoever is collecting it, will clean up well afterwards. I am thinking of animals coming in contact with it too, especially dogs and cats. |
Spygirl | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:36 am     It seems most of the debris is further east of where I am right now. They are giving out the numbers, but since I've had the TV on I haven't heard of any local reports of debris. They are saying the debris could extend into Louisiana, so I might have been closer to it should I have been home this weekend  |
Nimtu | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:38 am     God Bless the crew and the families. |
Hippyt | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:47 am     I don't know how they are ever going to figure out what went wrong,with tiny pieces scattered over such a huge area.The poor families,they were so close to seeing their loved ones. |
Ketchuplover | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:52 am     amen |
Nimtu | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 08:56 am     The words still are meaningful today.... President Reagan's Speech on The Challenger Disaster Ronald Reagan Oval Office of the White House, January 28, 1986 Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But, we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers. And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them... There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' |
Max | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:14 am     Okay, I'm freaking out right now. The universe is collapsing and I feel like I'm in a vortex. Here's why. In 1986 when the Challenger exploded, I had just come home from the hospital after having fallen on the stairs and broken my leg. I was in a full-leg cast propped up on pillows on the couch thinking how cool it was that I finally got to watch a space shuttle launch. Then it blew up. Last week, I was preparing a feature for our internal website that lists things that happened this week in history. One of the things that came up on the search was the Challenger explosion and I remembered where I was at the time. Then, I noticed one day that my leg was aching. Not unusual with a healed break, except that the leg that ached wasn't the one I broke. I commented about that to my boss and how strange it was. On Wednesday afternoon this week, I tripped on the step taking stuff out to my garage and broke my ankle. Not the leg I broke before, but the one that had ached for no reason. After surgery (pins and a plate were inserted), I'm back home. So this morning I turn on the news and here is the story about the Columbia breaking up! I'm telling you, this is freaking me out!! |
Sadiesmom | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:15 am     Hippyt It is just amazing how they figure this stuff out. Did you see the remnanats of the airplane that blew up over long Island when they reconstructed it in the hanger. It was like a huge jigsaw puzzle with large parts missing, but it was all laid out in order. These people are professionals. |
Hippyt | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:33 am     That's true Sadiesmom,but I worry about morons throwing this stuff in the back of their pick-ups!ya know???? |
Calamity | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:36 am     I am distraught. Much of our work is involved in academic and military aerospace research. The president of one of our suppliers was an officer in the Israeli military (although there really is no such thing as a "former" officer in that military) and was one class ahead of the Israeli astronaut. He was very proud of him. My dad's an amateur astronomer and I grew up looking at the sky through his telescope. He gave it to me when I went to college and sends me the monthly sky guides from (I think) MacDonald Observatory. Early this morning our local news' main story was about a sports scandal. And now...I wish we could go back in time. I know this is scattered and I'm sorry. I just cannot yet give up hope that by some miracle someone may have survived. Please everyone in the area of the debris field be careful. |
Zachsmom | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:38 am     {{{{HUGS MAX}}} I hope you feel better soon! That is kinda freaky!! This is just so shocking..I am speachless! |
Rissa | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:38 am     I am just in shock. We are aquaninted with a Cdn astronaut whose neice took Karate with my eldest for a couple years. When he went up, he gave her an official badge, signed photos from all the crew, etc. From that point on... she has just been hooked on the shuttles. On Friday she handed in her 2nd term science paper which she did on the student-led experiments Challenger had on board. So of course she got up this morning to try to catch the landing on TV. I don't even have words. We are going to spend the day OUT, don't know what we will be doing yet.. we are just getting her OUT. Can't imagine what the families went through, just minutes from the expected landing. {sigh} |
Karuuna | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:49 am     What a horrible tragedy! I'm sorry, but it's really quite clear that no one has survived. I keep thinking about the families who typically gather to watch the landing. I doubt this was visible over Florida, but you know they will see the video over and over again, knowing that was the last moments of their loved one. We still have three astronauts on the space station, don't we? When the Challenger exploded, the program was suspended for a few years. I wonder how they will proceed, seeing as how we can't leave those folks stranded up there indefinitely. |
Neko | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:50 am     They "idiot" who picked up the debris had probably NOT seen the news. I mean, I had no clue debris could be toxic, I just thought is was debris.... I've been watching the Cdn Stations and the American stations.. U.S offical's (I think?) are now saying the shutte is "gone." I'm thinking they're thinking, there is no hope. |
Calamity | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:53 am     If they ground the shuttle program, there is still the Soyuz capsule to take the astronauts down and Progress capsules to re-supply the station. I think those are the names - can't think straight right now. |
Kaili | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 09:56 am     I think the Challenger was a totally different situation though. That shuttle should never have been launched. They knew the conditions were wrong, many scientists (including the manufacturers of the o-ring- the cause of the explosion) had said they shouldn't launch. There were problems with that flight prior to the launch and the weather was too cold. In this situation, I see it as an accident that was unexpected. Don't know what happened, but it doesn't sound like there were any questions about the launch or landing. |
Karuuna | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 10:06 am     Thanks Calamity, I had forgotten the space station had an escape capsule. You're not the only one who can't think straight. They just played a tape of Husband (one of those who died today) making a short statement from the shuttle this week to commemorate those lost in Apollo and Challenger... I can't even imagine what those families are going thru. Kaili - I think there is speculation that the Columbia was damaged on liftoff by debris? I'm going to look to see if I can find any reports of them looking to see if it was safe to land. |
Kaili | Saturday, February 01, 2003 - 10:16 am     I heard the tape too- sad. It makes me hate the news- they play it all cause we want to see it but how hard for the people who knew him/them to have to hear this stuff. They didn't think the Apollo 13 blast was a big deal either though did they? That was at the beginning of the mission I believe. Maybe it will turn out to have mattered... |
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