[Milligan]

Why do you need 18 coffins for the Shuttle disaster?

[Skywarner]

"Why do you need 18 coffins for the Shuttle disaster?"

You don't. The iamge of the 18 flag-drapped coffins is a picture of American soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice being transported back home.

The images that NASA (and others in this thread) have been referring to are totally different - they are images of coffins containing the remains of the Shuttle Columbia astronauts being removed from a cargo plane with an honor guard. These images were being mistakenly used by several news outlets in conjunction with the original image of the 18 coffins from Kuwait. NASA's press release sums it up nicely.

Just another example of how many in the press just simply don't do any simple, basic investigation before reporting a story...