Condolences to all Americans and Israelis

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[DaveO]

Friends - I just learned of the loss of the Space shuttle Columbia during re-entry. To all Americans and Israelis on this board, you have my condolences on the loss of seven brave mates.
At this time, details are sketchy, but it seems certain the entire crew is lost. Still, until I hear differently; I'll hold out a bit of hope; the ship has an escape system; hopefully, someone managed to use it.

[Nacho_mx]

God bless their souls.

[Steven]

May God welcome them with open arms ...

[Jessica]

Please enjoy this image (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/2002/mar13/launch.html) from last year (I found it by searching Google for Columbia Space Shuttle (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=columbia+space+shuttle&sa=N&tab=wi)

May we continue on into space

[Neil Mick]

For what purpose, did the astronauts die?

Listen to the radio thread: the proposal in the NASA documents is mind-boggling...right out of a sci-fi movie.

"WHAT DID THE SEVEN COLUMBIA ASTRONAUTS DIE FOR? VELCRO? PHARMACEUTICALS? TRACTORS? A LOOK AT EXPERIMENTS IN THE SKY AND THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF SPACE

A year ago, one of the biggest stories in the space world was tourism. Many a newspaper wrote about how for $20 million you could get buy a chance to travel aboard the International Space Station.

It was part of the growing commercialization of space.

In May of 2001, Pizza Hut became the first company in history to deliver a pizza to outer space. The pizza was topped with salami because pepperoni did not fare well in space. The delivery location was the International Space Station.

In December 2001, NASA Chief of Staff Courtney Stadd predicted future collaborations between NASA and film giant Warner Brothers.

Last summer MTV and Pepsi announced plans to send Lance Boss of the pop group Nsync into space. The trip was postponed.

But someday commercial space tourism may become common. The Futron Corporation predicted last year that by 2021, as many as 15,000 passengers could be flying in sub-orbital space annually. An additional 60 tourists are projected to fly each year in orbital space."

http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20030204.html

[Michael Neal]

Leave it Neil to insert his politics into everything.

[MAH]

Leave it Neil to insert his politics into everything.
Doesn't surprise me. This guy is a serious loon.

[akiy]

Hi folks,

Just a reminder that the very first rule of the AikiWeb Forums here is, "Treat your fellow AikiWeb Forums members with respect."

If you are unwilling and/or unable to follow that simple rule, I'm going to have to ask you to find another venue for your online communications.

Thank you,

-- Jun

[Michael Neal]

Mike, I would not have said that. I think that I made an important note on how Neil was politicizing a tragic event, there was no need to say that. You only give him the high ground to beat you over the head with your own words.

Make sure you have some merit when you call someone something. Unless you have some evidence that Neil lives in a mental ward then you can't really call him a loon. :)

Jun, I hope that you did not find my comments disrespectful, I think what I said was appropriate. The space shuttle disaster is no forum for launching some anti-capitalistic agenda.

[Neil Mick]

You call this "respect?"
You only give him the high ground to beat you over the head with your own words.

Make sure you have some merit when you call someone something. Unless you have some evidence that Neil lives in a mental ward then you can't really call him a loon. :)

Jun, I hope that you did not find my comments disrespectful, I think what I said was appropriate. The space shuttle disaster is no forum for launching some anti-capitalistic agenda.
Actually, my motives for posting this link were from a perspective of general interest.

Do you find implications of my mental sanity, or allegations of political agendas, respectful?

I don't... :straightf

[Michael Neal]

Do you find implications of my mental sanity, or allegations of political agendas, respectful?
No, i did not find implications of you mental sanity respectful (as I wrote above) but the accustaion of having a political agenda here is not off base.

[Neil Mick]

Well, that IS your opinion, and you're entitled to it.

Personally, I am not strongly against the commercialization of space, but I don't think it's a positive trend, either, to spend millions to shoot pizzas into space...I find it strange, more than anything else.

Still, it certainly merits a post in a thread about the recent space shuttle, IMO. But as to my political agenda-seeking: I think you're reaching a bit, Michael.