They've been flying these things for more than twenty years. The Challenger disaster--supposedly--taught NASA NEVER to take anything in stride. I would bet the ratio of scheduled to actual launches is probably nearly eight-to-one...they call them off quite frequently for the slightest provocation.
These things are sensored up the wazoo. So what went wrong? (It's a rhetorical question, folks; don't bother telling me that it's going to take a lot of investigation to find out. I do forensic engineering, as it happens).
What I mean is, not "what happened" but "how could it have happened, so catastrophically, without anyone having the slightest clue?"
True, out of the four major catastrophes involving extreme danger to the crew, although the emergencies all came on suddenly and, well, "catastrophically," only Apollo 13 offered a chance for the crew to recover from the disaster. Apollo 1, Challenger and now Columbia were all, one minute routine conversations with Mission Control, the next moment all crew dead (Apollo One happened on the pad, and it's true that the guys weren't dead instantly like in the two shuttles, but it was over in less than a minute).
That indicates that probably sudden destruction and death are going to be the rule rather than the exception when it comes to space flight.
But I just can't believe that things were so lax, that no one had any idea (or if they did, they were once again ignored as in the case of Challenger).
So that leads me to the vague uneasy fear that this was sabotage. NOT during the flight, and not from the ground, but some time--maybe quite some time--before the Columbia left the earth.
Given that there are forces with huges resources at their disposal, who hate us and wish us destroyed; given that there was an Israeli air force officer on that shuttle--the first and only one--and given the unfortunate regularity with which employees of our government, such as Hanson, Pollard and many others, are willing to sell out for filthy lucre even if it means that good Americans have to die so they can retire early and wealthy, it's just too much of a possibility--even though the probability might be low--for me to ignore.
After all, had someone told me that with our vaunted "airport security," not one but FOUR commercial aircraft would be commandeered by boxcutter-wielding freaks from the deepest pits of hell, and three of them flown into major buildings, destroying a chunk of the PENTAGON, for goshsake, and LEVELING the Twin Towers, I'd have thought him out of his mind.
Things that make you go "hm."
Loon alert!
I see the problem as NASA's to find and correct; probably some sort of design flaw or possibly a manufacturing flaw.
Unfortunately, NASA now controls the information, so I don't watch their 2+ hour press conferences.