1) In a pinch what is the minimum time to get a shuttle launched... say we did need to launch an emergency rescue? Would it be weeks? Months?

2) Transmissions ceased in mid sentence from Columbia, do we know if that was when the breakup happened....? I would like to think it was... I hate to be morbid but I think the end must have been instantaneous...

Again my condolences to the families and to the heroes on the ground that I KNOW did all the could have to see the seven return safely...

No blame, no fingerpointing should dishonor their sacrifice... Sometimes we fail... lets remember our successes outnumber our failures 50:1.

Lets also remember that those 7 represented the best of humanity...

Rest in peace, we will miss the seven... but we will also recognize that each of them did in their short lives more than the vast majority of humans can ever hope to do. They were in every way Heroes...