McFreedom

First, of course, I offer my condolences to the families and friends of the astronauts, all their coworkers at NASA, and the people of Israel.

Transterrestrial Musings has some good speculation on the possible causes, and what happens from here.

I was actually more aware that the shuttle would be landing this morning than normal. A friend of mine sent an email detailing the landing plan; when Columbia first entered the atmosphere, it was still dark, here, in the Bay Area, and the fireball should've been visible to the naked eye. I'd considered getting up early to watch it (in retrospect, it would've passed over my house intact), but the weather was so cloudy and foggy I decided not to.

This morning, my son Blake woke up late (8 AM PST), and I got up without listening to the news, which I usually do. The shuttle landing was on my mind, because if they had aborted the landing, today (because of weather in Florida), they'd postpone it 'till tomorrow, when the weather here might be better. When he and I got upstairs, the first thing I did was turn on the news to see if I could get an update on the shuttle.

Beyond the current tragedy, all I can say is that I certainly hope this doesn't mean we're out of the business of sending people into space.