but anytime you have motion, you have risk. Every one of those astronauts knew it. It comes with the job.

Yes, it's terrible those 7 extraordinary people are dead. Yes, it's terrible we've lost another Shuttle. I love space as much as anyone. However, I think we need to keep it all in perspective.

On average, some 800 Americans are going to die on our highways this and EVERY week, over 40,000 per year. They're just as dead as the astronauts. They'll be missed by their families just as much as the astronauts. Yet, the nation will not go into mourning for any of them unless one happens to be a celebrity or politician. We won't shut down the national highway system.

A couple weeks ago, a commuter airliner crashed in North Carolina, killing about 18 people. They're just as dead as the astronauts, and no, the nation didn't go into mourning for them. We didn't ground all the airliners because of the accident, not even the airliners of the same type.

In just the past week, 4 Marines were lost in helicopter crashes in Texas. Another 4 Army soldiers were lost in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. They're just as dead as the astronauts and they'll be just as missed by their families. The nation's flags weren't lowered to half-mast except perhaps at a couple military bases. They died just as much in service to our country as the astronauts. Yet those helicopters are still flying.

The point to all this rambling diatribe is that we need to grow up and accept that spaceflight was, is, and will likely always be risky. Those who go into space surely know it. It's time we knew it, too.

So, we need to console the families, gather the evidence, try to determine the cause, implement the best possible fixes, AND PRESS ON.

In a few weeks, thousands of our troops are likely going to be at war in Iraq. Many of them are going to come home in a box. Try to keep that in perspective. I only mention this because about a few weeks before the Challenger accident, a chartered airliner carrying some 248 American soldiers home from peacekeeping duty crashed in Newfoundland. It made the news for a day or two but quickly faded into obscurity, especially after Challenger exploded. The nation mourned the 7 Challenger astronauts for a long time, but few even remember that Greenland crash happened. Those soldiers were just as dead, but maybe because it didn't happen on TV, they were forgotten by damn near everybody except for a few of us, and of course their families. Perspective.