[Houmatt]

Dear God in Heaven...just stumbled on this almost a half hour ago.....prayers for the families of those aboard.

[Constitutional Patriot]

Our prayers are with them.

[Diogenesis]

[nightowl]

News is saying the shuttle was lost over Palistine, TX. This is about 100 miles from my home. The first Israeli airforce pilot was on board along with 6 Americans. This is so terrible & sad. This reminds me so much of Jan. 26, 1986 when the Challenger was lost.

[Man of the Right]

A replay of the Challenger tragedy, the most upsetting and depressing event of the '80s. Pray for the souls of our astronauts and the lives of their families, and pray for our country.

[veronica]

A press conference onboard the space shuttle Columbia last week. (Photo: Reuters)

[Lancey Howard]

Not good.
My prayers go out to the families.
What a terrible shame.

[Notwithstanding]

Interesting link:


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833929/posts

[Lancey Howard]

The Israeli Colonel on board was one of the F-16 pilots who took out the Iraqi nuclear plant over a decade ogo.

[Jonathon Spectre]

Exploration is a dangerous business. It's not surprising that these shuttles are occasionally lost. Think back to the Magellan expedition and how few men came through.

My condolences to the families of those on board. We all hoped a day like this would never come again, but we all knew it would. At least they can take someday take comfort in the fact that their loved ones died in the pursuit of knowledge. Good men and women die every day for far less...

[Paul Ross]

Our prayers go up to the Lord for the souls of those who were aboard this craft, and the families of them and all concerned. This will be a national day of mourning.

[ppaul]

:

:

[MissAmericanPie]

My cousin in Weatherford said there was a terrible explosion, the dogs began to bark, and the cows were afraid. A gas line had exploded before and she thought it had happened again, as the gas line runs through her place she ran outside to see if this was the case.

She found nothing and went inside and tuned on the television about 20 mins later and understood what she had heard.

[Prince Charles]

Godspeed, Columbia. May the Lord pour forth his spirit on the crew's families.

[Textide]

Here's some background info on the insulation on the shuttle.

Learning to Take the Heat: Insulation for the Space Shuttle

[unixfox]

This is a terrible disaster and I pray for the families of those lost.

However, we must still be vigilant. Who knows what will be buried this weekend because of this.

[exhaustedmomma]

News reporting debris fiels spread over at least 8 counties. So far, saying all in Texas. This is very close to the Louisiana border.

Praying for the families, and our nation! This is just so sad!!

[Malichi]

Ok, I'll have to put on my tinfoil hat to ask this question. Were any government computers affected in last weekend's worm attack? What if someone applied Boyd's manuever attack theories to designing a computer worm/virus? You know create havoc and while everyone's looking at what they think you're doing you go and do what you planned on doing.
TAW

[rs79bm]

The only hope is the search and rescue teams. It appears the shuttle or it's payload suffered the worst.

[DoughtyOne]

'

On behalf of posters on Free Republic, I post this with deepest sympathy for the crew and their families.

Mission - sts107