With a quivering voice Rachel Zuckman retold how she discovered space shuttle Columbia had disintegrated upon its arrival to Kennedy Space Center.
"I got up in the morning and turned on the TV. They were showing Israel and I realized it was the space shuttle," the audiology and speech sciences sophomore said.
Filled with emotion, Zuckman retreated to Hillel Jewish Student Center where she spent the day remembering Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon.
The first Israeli to enter space, Ramon was among the seven crew members killed aboard Columbia as it disintegrated 200,000 feet above Texas. Immediately, Israel hailed Ramon as a hero for his courage.
"Our hearts go out to all of the families involved in this tragedy," said Sherie Rappoport, vice president of the Jewish Student Union Board at the Lester J. Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center. "This is a nation that looks to astronauts as heroes.
"It is tragic that they died doing something that they loved so much."
But the journey accompanies risk. There is a 2 percent chance of death every time an astronaut journeys to space, said Wolfgang Bauer, chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
"Two in every 100 flights with a chance of death is not acceptable," Bauer said. "If those were the same odds on a commercial aircraft, people would not fly."
Space exploration is high-risk, but must continue, Bauer said.
"You can't be scared to do something because there is risk involved," said Bauer, adding he'd participate in a mission next week.
He said, "Life must be lived with some kind of risk."
Horace Smith, an astronomy and astrophysics professor, said Saturday's crash reminded was a frightening reminder of the 1986 explosion of Challenger.
"It was something of shock," Smith said. "Although not as great (of a shock) as when the Challenger had exploded because it had happened once before and one knew it could happen again."
Challenger exploded 73 seconds after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The explosion killed all seven crew members aboard.
The Challenger disaster nearly brought the space program to a halt, said Smith, who was an assistant professor at MSU in 1986.
"There was a delay of almost three years until launches resumed," Smith said, adding tragedy forces scientists to refine technology and safety.
"When the Challenger happened, the shuttle program was fairly new," he said. "People were concentrating on the shuttle and eventually a new shuttle was put together."
The space program will likely again slow down as NASA resolves safety issues, astronomy Professor Jack Baldwin said.
MSU uses two space observation units: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray laboratory. There is also funding for individual research programs related to space Baldwin said.
Space exploration is also an interest among students.
"We have a certain number of students that have a dream of working for NASA," Baldwin said. "It just reminds them that there is risk involved in space exploration.
"It is easy to forget after about 100 successful launches in a row."
Now, the science community at MSU awaits details, Bauer said.
"Everybody that is in science is shocked when a colleague dies," Bauer said. "Astronomy will not stop, we have to continue space exploration."
