Loss of Columbia - A Special Report - (Sorry, no theme music.) Spaceflight Now is carrying the full text of Craig Covault's blockbuster scoop on the Columbia disaster. AF cameras were watching the shuttle re-enter the atmosphere and saw detailed images of serious wing damage to the craft. These classified telescopes are so sharp, they even captured images of the yaw thrusters firing to correct for drag on the left wing. Covault is Aviation Week's senior space reporter, and it's no surprise he was able to break this story -- which also happens to be one of the most thorough recitations of what we know to-date. (The magazine is spoken of in military circles as "Aviation Leak.") Back in college when I conned McGraw-Hill to give me a cut-rate "insiders" subscription, I used to love Covault's in-depth explanation of all things NASA. I think you'll appreciate it too.

Meanwhile, you can read all about the thoughts of Arabs about the Columbia disaster at the MEMRI website. (Part two can be found here.) It's a mixed bag -- some authors write quite movingly about how they share in the loss, since the American space program represents the entire human race and is part of our common heritage, while others express glee over the comeuppance for the United States and, more brutally, for the loss of the first Israeli astronaut. It really comes as a shock to those of us used to more civilized political discourse how much gloating and name-calling passes for learned commentary in that part of the world.

Since we're the ones putting rockets into space, Americans must grapple with what the loss means in a very concrete, programmatic sense. Others with more time on their hands have taken this opportunity to wax a bit more metaphoric. Some even manage to discern the hand of a supernatural power, who, since he/she is motivated by quasi-human psychology, must have been acting out some kind of morality play when he/she caused the accident. These commentators of course find such divine retribution to fit neatly into their personal view of the world. Needless to say, I consider such mysticism to be Grade A horse manure. Other right-thinking people agree.

Aside from these easily discarded hacks, I really haven't been hearing too much from the hard core, usually leftist anti-space crowd -- the ones who want to scrap the whole endeavor and have humanity live out our remaining days scuttling around on the planet's surface like beetles. Maybe I'm missing it, or maybe the war in Iraq has them all pre-occupied. Their silence seems to have given room, for a change, to the more sophisticated critics of the space program. These people, like Easterbrook, want more than anything a space program that works, that achieves great things. They view the shuttle and the space station as obstacles to getting on with the good stuff -- like a mission to Mars. They look to replace the shuttle, not just cancel it. That's a worthy viewpoint, and it would be great to have a national debate on the subject. However, I worry that these critics will become pawns of those who would gut NASA but have no desire to build a viable alternative.

As with September 11, I find myself being thankful that we have a Republican administration in office. Not that Bush has taken any lead on space exploration; he's had other concerns. But a President Gore, I feel, would have been much more amenable to putting our dreams under the budget axe. Congress and the President have a great opportunity to work together to build a more successful future for manned space flight. If the right kind of constructive criticism makes its way into policy, we can expect good things to come out of this terrible tragedy.