Remembering Columbia

January is a hard month for space enthusiasts. Although I missed posting remembrances for the 1967 Appolo Pad Fire (January 27) and the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion (January 28), I tried to honor the astronauts' memories at least in real life. And February is not any easier. Three years ago today, after completing a 16-day mission, the space shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, fireballing across the Texan sky, and killing the seven astronauts aboard.

Check out Marianne Dyson's REMEMBER COLUMBIA page. Ms. Dyson is a former NASA flight controller. See also Space.com's story and multimedia archive for STS-107 and CNN's timeline of the disaster. Remember the pioneers! They make it look so easy, but every moment of a mission is fraught with great risk, a risk they gladly take again and again.