I've been following this story all morning and it is very reminiscent of the Challenger explosion 17 years ago (dang, can y'all believe it was that long ago?). Of course, my first thoughts were that it could be terrorist related, but it was reported on CNN that that theory is almost impossible because of the altitude of the shuttle and the speed at which it was traveling. They said that there are no devices of destruction that are that advanced. They did an interview with a man in the Waco, Tx area who was outside with his family to watch the shuttle pass. He witnessed the shuttle break apart overhead and swore that he saw a commercial airplane flying supspiciously close to the shuttle. I was really worried until the reporter commented that there was no way possible that a commercial airplane would be able to fly at that altitude. I could feel the reporter wanting to give the witness one of these:
. So, it seems that this was truly a misfortunate accident. The shuttle was 16 minutes away from landing (isn't that crazy how it was over Texas and would land in Florida in
16 minutes?) and had already started its descent, which supposedly should be the most unproblematic process of the flight.
I'm kind of uncomfortable with the way they keep harping on the fact that there was an Isreali on board, as if his presence points to possible terrorist activity. I understand the concern, but his family is experiencing just as much loss as the American families and I just hope they don't make this into an us v. them situation. Also, if you haven't seen the pictures of the crew yet, there was a 43 year old black man on board. Not to single him out, but I'm always still surprised to see black folks that are willing to fly in space.
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