I was wondering if anyone thought of doing tribute images about the space shuttle Columbia, If you need a shuttle theres a good at 3d gladiaters.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=326005

Remember that two American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut are at the Space Station. They - and those who we hope will follow - must carry on for all of us. Humanity has a terribly tenuous foothold on the space frontier. Decisions and actions in the next few months will determine if we continue to have a continuous presence in orbit, or turn down a path that ultimately leaves us bound to Earth's surface forever. Can we afford to ever take space programs for granted again?

Ugh! I am sick of all this. No offense, but space exploration is a damn dangerous buisness. It is expected that accidents and system failures will happen and people will die. 2 crashes in the 20+ years the shuttles have flown isn't all that bad IMO. Especially since the first one was caused by blatent incompetence and bad leadership at Nasa. (as was the apollo 1 fire.) I see no reason after a thourough investigation that the shuttle can't fly again plenty soon. especially since this looks more like an accident than a design flaw, (Like with Challenger.) and because NASA isn't wasting time this time trying to cover up their mistakes. Yes I felt like I got punched in the gut when I heard it was the columbia. That shuttle should have been in a museum long ago. If it wqasn't for the fickleness of the american people and the apperant inability of politicians to properly fund the space program we would have a modern far more efficient design by now. I am sad but... If people get this upset everytime someone dies in the course of space exploration we will never get anywhere in space. At least till the next space race with the Chinese starts. Sorry for the rant, but I just feel the news people have been trying to stir something up by constantly painting the Astronauts on the ISS as being in some kind of Peril which is beyond ludicrous. we have plenty of shuttles, and they have souez capsules if the ever needed to leave the ISS.

What happened to Columbia was indeed a national tragedy, but dying a nasty death while performing the duties of one's job doesn't make one a 'hero'.

Tell that to the families of the firefighters who died at the world trade center. The astronauts died in a service of a risky job with the goal of advancing human knowlege and bettering human life. If that doesn't make them heroes then the word hero has no meaning.

Amen to that, Anton!

"Tell that to the families of the firefighters who died at the world trade center. The astronauts died in a service of a risky job with the goal of advancing human knowlege and bettering human life. If that doesn't make them heroes then the word hero has no meaning. " All heroes, in my book.

Any death is a tragedy. 2 months ago, 5 firemen were killed just 10 clicks away from my house when trying to save a man trapped in his car. I wonder if anyone heard about them in the USA ?

I'm not Anton. My name is Tamara.

About twenty years ago, back when I was 18, I had a cousin who worked in the oilfields of West Texas. One day while working, defined herein as doing his dangerous job to earn a buck, a massive fire broke out and Mitchell got his ticket punched almost instantly. Was it a tragedy? You bet your ass it was. Was he a hero? Of course not. Had his job involved protecting the public from fires or criminals (or orbiting the planet in a high-tech tin can, for that matter) would that have made him a hero? Again, nope. What if Mitch had seen a clear escape route but still lingered in the blaze to pull two other men to safety...hero? Yes! Heroism is defined as a selfless act, so by definition a man who is doing his job, however dangerous, is not a hero...just a brave man.

A fireman just doing his job IS a hero. Heroism isn't just a selfless act. If you save someone's life or improve many people's quality of life, you're still a hero, even if you get a paycheck. The numbers of war heroes are legion. They were paid for their services. They remain heroes. Firemen, policemen, others get a check at the end of the day. They're still heroes.

My apologies, Tamara! I had you confused with pheonixrising! I agree with you, though, on all counts. While a fireman or policeman might get paid for doing his duty, hisher willingness to sacrifice his life for others does make him a hero! These astronauts, going up there to help expand our shrinking world, are heroes in my book, no matter what anybody else says.

I just wonder why they are the only heroes whose mourning is supposed to be planet wide ? Because they are Humanity's heroes, or because they are USA's heroes ? No rant intended here, I just wonder why some other heroes died while helping others (I can think of 8 just in the last 2 months) and their names were forgotten... Compiler