lost: space shuttle columbia

i don't know what to say. i remember vividly my teacher crying as we watched that eerie shape in the sky the exploding challenger shuttle made, the big cloud with streaks of smoke trailing out. i didn't have the emotional maturity to quite understand why it effected her so. sadly, today i do.

both of my parents have worked for the shuttle program for the past 20 years. dad would leave late nights when it was being launched. we would stop in huston and cape canaveral on road trips to looks at all the displays and mock-ups at the centers. i have many tshirts and patches commemorating different shuttle launches - including one for that fateful mission in 1986. it's been a part of my life for some time. it is an amazing thing, to be able to put humans in space, and be able to bring them back. there are such enormous risks involved, everything must go perfectly. sadly, today something went wrong.

what a terrible tradgedy. my thoughts go out to those close to the flight crew.