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They don't need to be so graphic. Several of the astronauts had small children and its horrific enough for them.

After the WTC, I am not shocked at all. In fact, I want to know the brutal details. Its our money afterall. I'm afraid I just can't get worked up emotionally. I think NASA needs to do a better job of communicating the public need for the space program. They might be better at communicating it to children, but its the grown-ups who pay the bills. I would like to know why we should keep on risking expensive shuttles and crews for this program. I want to know why this happened.

I agree with you in part, Virgil. I'd always thought that the space program (the race to the moon, the space satellites, even the space station) was great. But the shuttle program didn't make a lot of sense after I read the learned criticism of it after the Challenger disaster. NASA sold this program as a money maker, commercially, knowing it would lose billions and never be economically viable. Also, I think any program that is not essential to the national security that carries a 1 in 75 risk of a disaster is far too risky.