Shuttle Disaster

Jeff Carlson on February 1, 2003

I’m sick about the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia. I caught the news late: Kim and I were enjoying a nice news- and Internet-free morning before running off to get some errands done, and then I checked CNN.com quickly. I feel like I’ve been numb all day. (The Challenger explosion in 1986 is still one of my most vivid memories.)

It’s a terrible disaster, but I can’t shake the thought that the astronauts knew the risks, accepted them, and pushed on. I can’t imagine that any astronaut would be blasé about the risks involved, given the amount of expertise they must have and training they have to go through. So while I know this doesn’t mean much to the grieving families today, I for one feel just a bit more respect for the men and women who are active in the space program.

Published by Jeff Carlson

Author, photographer, and late-nighter Jeff Carlson writes for outlets such as Popular Photography, DPReview, Creative Pro, and others, and is a contributing editor for TidBITS. He is the author of Take Control of Your Digital Photos; The Photographer's Guide to Luminar AI, Take Control of Apple Watch, and Take Control of Your Digital Storage, among many other titles.

  1. Glenn Fleishman February 1, 2003 at 4:14 pm

    Jeff, I’m with you. It makes me entirely sick that it happened, but I believe it’s inevitable that space missions will have astronaut casualties. Look at the close calls we know about (including those on Mir) and the ones we’ve never been told about (certainly many, many missions).

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