A nation mourns, again.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The risks of manned space flight had receded from public consciousness as shuttle launches and landings became almost routine, but everyone understood that the dangers were still there. Human beings and the machines they build will always come short of perfection. When the shuttle Columbia broke up minutes before it was supposed to land Saturday morning, killing all seven crew members and raining debris over east Texas, it was more a cause for grief than shock.

There will be time to discover what went wrong, though attention will first focus on a piece of insulation that broke off during takeoff and apparently hit the shuttle's left wing. There will be time to decide the future of the remaining three shuttles in NASA's fleet, the newest of which has now been in service for a decade. There will be time to contemplate the course of the nation's manned space program, with the international space station under construction and the shuttle serving as its primary supply craft.

All of that will come later. Now is the time for mourning.

Columbia's crew was a powerful demonstration of strengths that emerge when a nation makes full use of its human resources. Two of the mission specialists were women: Kalpana Chawla, an aerospace engineer who was born in India, and Laurel Clark, a pediatrician, diver and naval flight surgeon. Another mission specialist, David Brown, was a physician and pilot. Payload Commander Lt. Col. Michael Anderson was a physicist, flight instructor and one of NASA's seven African-American astronauts. William McCool, the pilot, was a computer scientist, mechanical engineer and test pilot. Shuttle Commander Rick Husband was a mechanical engineer who piloted the first shuttle to dock with the international space station.

The seventh crew member was Col. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon was among the first Israelis to fly an F-16 fighter jet, and participated in the 1981 raid that destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor. By joining Columbia's crew, he became a hero in his country, and now Israel, like the United States, is grieving.

All seven were talented, disciplined and thoroughly trained. After the shuttle Challenger exploded during takeoff in 1986, the potential for disaster in space has been universally understood - but no one is more aware of the risks than the astronaut corps. Yet Columbia's crew members had dreamed of flying into space, had strived to qualify for selection, and had prevailed in gruelling competition for a coveted slot on the shuttle. They were where they wanted to be.

The nation will soon confront the question of where to go from here. For now, it's enough to remember Columbia's crew as the best among us, and realizing that such people have daring ambitions. Perhaps they can be honored best by keeping those ambitions alive.