[iowamark]

Long but good:

Wayne Hale blog

[AmusedBystander]

The crew and the public should have been told. Maybe the Russians had a capsule that could have been sent up quickly or an USAF missile carrying oxygen tanks or any number of things including letting them die up there and retrieving their bodies in whole for later burial.

[null and void]

There is just no way the NASA bureaucrats could have ever told the astronauts.

Telling the truth simply isn’t in the DNA of any government bureaucrat.

Unless there is absolutely no way to avoid it, and then only after at least a decade has passed, and even then expect only a partial truth.

[Jonah Hex]

IMO, NASA managers were wrong not to inform COL Husband since ground crew shouldn't withhold information about the condition of his craft from the mission commander. CDR Sheppard established this principle during John Glenn's flight when he flat out told Glenn there were indications his heat shield was compromised.

Once informed, then it would have been COL Husband's call whether to inform the rest of his crew. To cut him out of the NASA decision loop/chain of command was just plain wrong. I can't help but believe an USAF O-6 like COL Husband would have understood.

[SkyPilot]

Well, as long as NASA management took the time to make sure Muslims felt good about math and science, that’s all that matters.

[Houghton M.]

It was morally wrong. Christians used to pray to God that He would spare them an “unprovided” death, an unforeseen death. They prayed that because they wanted the opportunity to prepare for death.

Maybe none of the astronauts were believers. But somehow I rather doubt it.

Even ancient pagan philosophers understood that, because we are not mere animals, preparing for death is the mark of a human being. Not everyone gets the opportunity to do so, which is why Christian teachers always advised people to “see ahead” to death at all points in life (memento mori).

I would think that even secular folk, if they think about it, would appreciate the opportunity to prepare for death.

But whaddah I know.

[DBeers]

Wrong decision. The 'comforting' death argument is an argument employed by the left to make death seem more appealing and acceptable.

The astronauts deserved the chance to confront death head on, settle any unsettled matters, communicate any last wishes, and make any amends thought necessary -as well they had the right to confront the very cause of their death sentence.

In my opinion, the decision was cowardly and self serving.

[Lancey Howard]

They were afraid the astronauts might start cursing the NASA scum who equipped their rockets with “green” SOFI in order to be politically correct and appease the scumbag Democrat enviro-mice.

The people responsible for using inferior “green” materials in a space mission should be prosecuted for murder.