Remembering NASA's latest tragedy, STS-107 | Confusions and Connections

Yesterday saw NASA’s annual day of remembrance. The day that NASA remembers not only the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger on STS-51L as well as what this post is about. The crew of Columbia on STS-107.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden participates in a wreath laying ceremony as part of NASA's Day of Remembrance, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, at Arlington National Cemetery. The wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration. — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden participates in a wreath laying ceremony as part of NASA’s Day of Remembrance, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, at Arlington National Cemetery. The wreaths were laid in memory of those men and women who lost their lives in the quest for space exploration.

The crew of STS-107 seemed a very close crew.
A crew that were killed around the same time into the mission that Challenger, and her crew, were lost.

But, you may say, Columbia was destroyed on re-entry. This is true but the foam strike at 82 seconds into the flight was the primary cause of the loss of the ship.

I remember what I was doing when I heard the news of the breakup but, unlike challenger, the images haven’t resonated as much as Challenger did. it maybe because she was lost in re-entry and not in front of the world’s press.

It just felt different to the Challenger disaster from 1986. No big explosion broadcast around the world. All we got was just a trail of “shooting stars”.