Dr. Sanity recalls that harrowing day some 19 years ago.

My prior related posts are here and here

The STS-107 crew, from the left, Mission Specialist David Brown, Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Michael Anderson, Pilot William McCool and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon.

THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.

On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.

In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.

All Americans today are thinking, as well, of the families of these men and women who have been given this sudden shock and grief. You're not alone. Our entire nation grieves with you. And those you loved will always have the respect and gratitude of this country.

The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.

In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet farther than we can see there is comfort and hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.

May God bless the grieving families, and may God continue to bless America.

It's surely been a tough week around the ranch at NASA, especially among the Orbiter teams, with the anniversaries of the losses of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia.

My hometown, in the path of the disintegrating orbiter, held its own ceremony today.

The crew of Challenger, STS-51L: Front row from left, Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair.
Back row from left, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

Nineteen years ago today, I was changing classes in high school and we heard the first rumors and unbelievable facts, right there on the sidewalk. The Challenger had exploded during the launch and things didn't look good. We gathered in the school library where a television was rounded up and we watched the coverage, marveling at the sickening and stupefying explosion over and over. The booster rockets spin away the same with each viewing, the flames and smoke unchanging, but the shocking transition from powered, purposeful flight to disintegrating machinery still shocks me to watch today.

President Ronald Reagan, spoke to the nation that evening:

And I want to say something to the school children of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.

Yes, like the Boomers, I remember where I was on that day, when I heard that terrible news.

NASA has a tribute online.

There's something about the bleak clarity of this photo of a heat shield that really strikes my fancy. It was jettisoned by the Opportunity rover on its entry into the Martian atmosphere.

The Mars rover website has a metric ton of neat images and all the facts on these extremely successful and long-lived missions.