Columbia

[avram]

That’s what I get for sleeping really late — I heard about the Columbia through someone else’s LiveJournal, and had to spend a few sleepy brain cycles figuring out if this wasn’t about the Challenger.

Fully awake now. Lots of good commentary in Patrick’s blog’s comment section (including commentary by Tim Kyger, who used to work on the US Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space). Lots of odd bits popping up on the web: The Washington Post jumped the gun and filed a story early about the mission, starting off with a description of a safe landing. People are auctioning off alleged shuttle debris on eBay. At least two houses in Nacogdoches, Texas were damaged by debris falling through the roofs.

It’s hard looking at photos of the crew. They look like a Star Trek cast — young and diverse, as if chosen to represent all of humanity on a hopeful, optomistic voyage to space.