I absolutely agree with you Spit. For example last week a man from the congo had to watch his nephew being eaten by rebels/cannibals after his entire village was slaughtered.

This made it into a small article in the world news section of my local paper, yet today there is a 7 page special article about columbia.

I agree as well, its suprising how much the media can influence peoples reactions to different events, and sometimes its kinda scary.

But this story isnt just about the seven lives lost, its also about what will happen to the space program and also what will happen to the other shuttles, they currently have a very good safety record but I got a feeling that once the people in the International Space Station are bought back to earth there wont be anymore shuttle flights until they check all the shuttles. Dont get me wrong this is the right thing to do but you cant tell how long the wait will be for another shuttle launch.

@Natrunner: friends and loved ones come at the funeral of someone they know and equally love. Media do it for ratings. Media are supposed to be neutral, objective, and international. The dose of coverage they're giving now is slightly over the proportion.

Edit: adding
But you have a point. Despite my opposing stance against media hipocrysy, it is wrong to make my point in this moment or place. I apologize.

Edited by - Fear Factor on 03-02-2003 08:35:28

It's a question of allegiances, who cares about who. It's a sorry state of affairs that our world is divided up, and I'd love to see it united with every human caring about what happens to every other one. I'm sure there are many others around the world who think this, but nobody wants to be ruled by another man's ideology, culture, religion, etc.

And then you have to imagine how disturbing it would be if the news reported on every single death.

I also pass on my condolences to the Families of the Astronauts. Also to the People of the USA and Israel. This is a horrible event with which to come to terms.

It was not an orchestrated event, the sheer height and speed of the orbitor rule out a terrorist strike. For this i am grateful.

It is unfortunate that this event has taken place and overshadowed the Israeli acheavment of putting thier first man in to space. All I know is that we must not give up. Man must spread its wings in to space. Many more may loose their lives in our combined quest to space. But this sacrifice must be made if we are to undergo our exploration.

You may think it tacky but i beleave that it is mankinds ongoing mission,

to seak out new life,
to journey to all of the undescovered countries.
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE.

As the old saying goes, "When one person dies it's a tragedy, when a million people die it's a statistic." This is probably a perfect example of that statement.

Still as it was pointed out, it's not every day that a shuttle burns up in the atmosphere, but mass murder in Africa.....well unfortunately that has become routine.

I got up at 3 in the morning to watch Columbia on TV the first time it lifted off. I lucked out and got to watch it lift off for the last time. I was tempted to change the channel but now I'm glad I didn't. Columbia was always my favorite shuttle, because it was the first one launched, plus I live by the Columbia River. When I was a kid I thought the space shuttle was so cool, especially because it had guns on it. Then I got older and I was a little disappointed when I figured out that what I thought were three guns on the nose were retro-rockets. I don't expect the three remaining shuttles to be grounded as long as they were in 1986. The space program will bounce back and I'm sure there will be other setbacks to be overcome in the future.

On the subject of why do we care so much about these seven people dying when we ignore so many others, I agree a little bit. I guess our national pride is a bit tarnished but sometimes exploration and discovery comes with a price. I'm glad this country still has people willing to risk their lives in the conquest of space.

I think our space program has proven to be a huge success over the years. I think it is a credit to the men and women in NASA that they have had over a hundred successful space shuttle missions. It would be great to have no accidents but you can't do much better than 99%.

Let's get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!

Edited by - Ugnaught on 03-02-2003 19:05:51

ACtually Mustang, my mentor Stalin said that! ( no bull )

And yes, space expolration is , in my opinion, NECESSARY, but yer not going to find me doin it
Unless its from the comfornt of my home pc

If I've got my facts right colonel Ilan Ramon was the second jewish astronaut, the first one being the schoolteacher who was on challenger when that crate blew back in 1986. As we all know colonel Ilan Ramon was killed above Texas this saturday. This makes two dead jewish astronauts in two tries. I k´think god is trying to tell us something. Something like "Stay the hell out of space you schmucks, let the goyim do it!" and I'm not the guy to go up against god. I'm not stupid


And I pray for the children of Colonel Ramon. The guy left a daughter of four and another one of five, a lad of seven and another lad of fourteen. One shouldn't go into space with a family. Just isn't wize.


- Israeli by birth, Israeli by fate, Israeli by heart

It's not so much that he was jewish as it was that he was Israeli.

First, science (and in our case exploration) requires sacrifices. Captain Cook (sp?) was eaten by some Australian, Magellan fell in a battle on Philipines... It's tragical but it's logical. Those brave men and women weren't the first nor the last victims. (I wonder if someone will call me heartless...)

Second:

---

ACtually Mustang, my mentor Stalin said that! ( no bull )

---

Stalin indeed said that, but how comes he's your mentor. I bet you couldn't trace communism to it's root.
(no hard feelings, just checking you )

:: signals guards ::

Men castrate that man!

( no hard feelings man - Heck he aint gunna be feelin ANYTHING hard after this )

Man, this is a very bad tragedy. I still can't belive that this happened after all this time. I can only pray for the families of those who died in the Colombia. It reminds me when the Russians put a dog in a probe NOT meant to come BACK. These are very sad days, after 9/11, and now this. :'(

Alpha 2 to Ronin 1, What's your status?

Woah Woah Woah, Australians didn't eat Captain Cook (although he did look delicious ), he was killed by South Pacific Islanders.