It shouldn't be that shocking that Columbia blew up with all hands. After all, we've lost countless planes and helicopters in routine missions within a few thousand feet of the ground; these jokers regularly fly into outer space. I think it hurts because we think of astronauts as the upper-tip-top .00005% of the population, people who are both incredibly intelligent and crazy enough to strap on several million pounds of explosives in the name of science and human acheivment. We should mourn their passing, but keep in mind that the Navy/Marine V-22 Osprey has killed more people than anything NASA has done in it's existance. Whenever we hear of an Osprey crash, in the back of our minds we giggle and say "Gee, those military types really screwed up again, didn't they?" But just as many sons and daughters were lost, and the damn thing still doesn't work right.

Perspective sucks.