Just Another Blog
Saturday, February 01, 2003
 
Space Shuttle Disaster

Right now, Fox News has some pretty classy coverage focusing on those lost. The main links at the top of the page are to the news of the disaster. The rest of the page is links to the biographies of the seven deceased astronauts.

Colonel Ilan Ramon

Commander Doctor Laurel Clark

Commander Colonel Rick Husband

Pilot Captain David Brown

Doctor Kapana Chawla

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Anderson

Pilot Commander William McCool

Looking at the home movies that are being played on NBC, I bet that we will find out that the crew had plenty of time to realize what was happening to them. The bulk of the spacecraft looks to have stayed intact long after things began going wrong. A lot of the talk about the crew has been of their professionalism and of how much better they are than everyone else in terms of how courageous, smart, daring, and valiant they were.

That leaves me wondering what goes through the heads of the smartest people in the world when they know they are about to die. Do they keep pushing buttons and flipping switches trying to right a situation that has already doomed them? Do they stop and take one last look out the window? Do they try one last time communicate with their families or the outside world? Do they pray to their gods? Do they immediately realize their certain doom?

What will your thoughts be when catastrophe comes?