The Oh, Welcome to a special edition of Planetary Radio. My name is Matt Kaplan. We have put aside the program that we were going to play

for you tonight and it will return along with our regular format next week on February 10th, but in light of the tragedy that took place

Saturday morning we wanted to do something a little bit special so we are

live as this is being transmitted at least on KUCI with a special tribute and consideration

of the meaning of what happened on Saturday.

On the Planetary Society website, this statement was posted on February 1st. The Space Shuttle Columbia was lost today in the quest to explore space.

The astronauts who died during reentry from orbit were humankind's representatives in that quest. We extend our heartfelt

sympathy to the families, friends, and loved ones of the crew of STS 107. We also share the

sorrow of NASA and all the teams that were part of this flight.

The causes and implications of this tragedy will be widely discussed in the days and weeks

ahead.

The Planetary Society and its members worldwide are devoted to space exploration,

and we will help in any way we can with the recovery from this tragedy.

Today, we can only express our concern and sorrow.

And it is signed by Bruce Murray, Wesley T. Huntress Jr.

Neil Degrass Tyson and Louis D. Friedman, who is the executive director of the Planetary Society.

And Lou Friedman joins us on the phone now.

If this is working, Lou, are you there?

I'm here.

Nice to talk to you, Matt.

Lou, thank you for joining us.

We certainly expected to have you back on planetary radio, but not under these circumstances.

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