[leadpenny]

As I write this, the Shuttle should be re-entering the atmosphere of the planet "Earth."

Talk about, "eerie." After listening to Jay Barbree of NBC News at the Cape, it seems like the recently released internal memo indicates that all of the NASA Ground Controllers were holding there breath as the shuttle re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. When I made the subsequent semi-flippant remark, "We can only hope," I wonder how many of the controllers were thinking just that?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Perhaps that's because "something" did happen closer over Hawaii, as the Nasa spokesman alluded to and few picked up on. We thought he had misspoke.

It's my understanding that reentry occurred over Hawaii around 5:45 am as you quoted Nasa.

[McGruff]

More kudos from Lucianne.com

Yellow Ribbon Overload: James Taranto in his always meaty collection of wazzup on the web emphasizes the point that the national reaction to the Columbia disaster is more grown-up than reactions in the past and points to 9/11 for having produced a certain amount of scar tissue.

He also mentions the Free Republic eyewitness thread on the shuttle's problems that scooped the big guys at the wire services by eleven minutes. Congrats to The Other Site. Way to go, guys.