If you haven't already, please turn on CNN

[snarkyman]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Columbia apparently disintegrated in flames over Texas on Saturday minutes before it was to land in Florida. TV video showed what appeared to be falling debris, as NASA declared an emergency and warned residents to beware of falling objects.

Six Americans and Israel's first astronaut were on board.

In north Texas, people reported hearing "a big bang" at about 9 a.m., the same time all radio and data communication with the shuttle was lost.

Television stations showed what appeared to be flaming debris falling through the sky, and NASA warned Texas residents to beware of any falling objects. NASA also announced that search and rescue teams were being mobilized in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.

Comments

[snarkyman.livejournal.com]

I noticed this, too, and wondered if we're becoming more jaded as a society. The second shuttle loss is a tragedy, to be sure, but it's not as traumatic as the first. So is it Sadder, Older, Wiser -- or just jaded?

Re:

[actual-size.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's jaded. We feel bad about what happened, but these people died in an accident, doing a dangerous job. The knew the risks when they signed on. Oklahoma City and 9/11 have made us all a lot sadder, older, and wiser, however.

[eirehound.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Travelling into space and then plunging back into the atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles an hour is a high-risk activity pretty much any way you slice it, not like going to work in a skyscraper. Assuming that it is and/or should be safe is probably a much more jaded attitude than being blasé about a disastrous accident.

That doesn't minimize the tragic loss of life, but still ...

Too much to take in

[sapphorlando.livejournal.com]

For me, it was just bad-news overload. I've spent the last month researching the future of communications as a vital component of American democracy, and it's been both stressful and depressing. On top of the so-called War on Terrorism and how we're royally fucking that up, the recent DOMA issue in Connecticut and more and more..this was just more than I can take right now.