A very tragic moment in history.

[Too Tall Bob]

2003  Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. 
 

 

[Dubious Don #56333]

I got to watch that in real time. At the time one of the amateur radio clubs I was in put up the live NASA video feeds for every shuttle mission on the club's repeater.  I knew they were lost when people in Texas reported "meteors".  It was deja-vu for me because years earlier I'd watched the Challenger launch. I remember seeing the flame from one of the SRB's thinking 'there's not supposed to be fire there' Poof. Morton-Thiokol had warned NASA about launching outside the temperature parameters because the O-rings might not seal but their attitude seemed to be "Aw, It'll be ok". Then after a chunk of foam off the fuel tank had, unknown to them at the time, because NASA decided it wasn't worth having the Columbia crew do an EVA  because if the tiles were damaged they coundn't have repaired it anyway. Of course we know now there was a hole in the wing which allowed the structure to eventually fail due to the heat of re-entry. Government ineptness at its worst. What a waste. Interestingly, this was systemic as the Mercury astronauts had to threaten to walk off if they didn't give the pilot controls and a hatch with explosive bolts that the pilot could open. It was shameful that they blamed Gus Grissom for the loss of Libery Bell. Cold comfort when they recovered the capsule decades later and eventually discovered he didn't screw up after all. Painful memories for me. Godspeed to them all.