[Thinkin' Gal]

My God, the tree [Ilan, Daniel 4] *was* cut down!

The other day, the instant my morning alarm went off (it is set to the radio) the first thing I heard was what sounded like a mission control person saying that contant was lost and it appeared that the spacecraft had exploded.

I forget the exact words but I awoke with a startle and thought that Columbia had gone down. Moments later, the news announcer continued with the news. Apparently, they were in the midst of replaying audio from the Challenger disaster, when my radio turned on. I was unnerved for hours afterwards.

[austen]

Does anyone know if I can get Fox News on the internet? I do not have acccess to a television right now.

[Richard Axtell]

This is a very grave and tragic event. I hope everyone here, along with recognition and mourning of the loss of the crew of the Columbia, also be sober and circumspect, and NOT give rein to wild speculation and/or hysterical accusations regarding this disaster. There is always this short period of time, early in the developing phase of any disaster, that information is incomplete, and often wild and erroneous rumors spread rapidly. There is no benefit, and only further harm in spreading UNCONFIRMED rumors. Any mention of such a rumor, should clearly be labeled as such, with serious caveats against the kind of speculation I am talking about. Let's see what is true and factual in this situation, and deal with the facts as they are.

[ravingnutter]

I forget the exact words but I awoke with a startle and thought that Columbia had gone down. Moments later, the news announcer continued with the news. Apparently, they were in the midst of replaying audio from the Challenger disaster, when my radio turned on. I was unnerved for hours afterwards.

Strange...when I first heard it I was headed out my driveway and I thought it was some kind of Challenger memorial thing and didn't really pay all that much attention. By the time I got to the end of the driveway, I heard them say "Columbia" and then I panicked. I put the truck in park right where it was at and ran back to the house to turn on the tube. I had followed this flight closely as I have co-workers at JSC who do mission support. I am still in shock, but was relieved that no one was hurt on the ground with all that debris...that was a miracle in itself.