Space Shuttle Columbia

[R. Andrew Lamonica]

We mourn the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew less than 39 miles above our home planet.

[R. Andrew Lamonica]

Does anyone here follow the space program?  If you do I would be interested to hear what you think the consequences of this disaster will be.  I, for one, think we might take another break from human operated space exploration like what followed the Challenger explosion.  This does not mean, however, that NASA will grind to a halt like last time.  Many of NASA’s current projects are robotic in nature and there could be an increase in these much the way that the military is moving toward unmanned vehicles. The real question is what to do about the IIS.  The news had reported various possibilities for the astronauts stationed on the IIS, but I would like to know if international pressure to continue construction will have any effect on NASA’s decision about when to launch the next shuttle.

[William Grim]

Maybe they'll think about upgrading the space shuttles?  Aren't they about 30 years old?

I don't know, maybe this incident will lead them towards something like that; you know, if international pressure pushes NASA back into space with humans.

[Kade P. Cole]

I think they NASA be hesitant to rush back into space. They will spend some good time, 6 months at least, figuring out what happened. Then they will pretty much go back to business as usual. They may switch over to using more robots but I do not think they will replace the shuttles with robots. They will figure it out and fix the problems. They may accelerate their timeline for a new shuttle design/replacement. They have been planning a new orbiter for quite a few years. Just my thoughts.