I grew up with Space Shuttle Columbia. I'm only a few years older than her. Hers was the distinguished career of a heroic Earth-orbitor and the men and women she carried were equally distinguished and all of them a sort of hero. Today, only days after the anniversary of Challenger's tragic ascent in 1986, Columbia disintegrated on re-entry just 15 minutes before she was due to land.

To watch spaceships explode in movies is exciting and cool. When it happens in real life it is horrific and disheartening. These were real lives that were lost, not film effects created on computers. Those that mourn are not actors but family, friends, and others who may not even have known the victims. This was a science mission, one of peace and hope. Let not their deaths be in vain.