In the midst of the 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, it's easy to forget about Space Shuttle Columbia, which was lost during a heady time in early February 2003: the run-up to the Iraq War.  The morning the Columbia was lost, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were meeting at Camp David to discuss Iraq; just a few days later, Secretary of State Colin Powell would address the U.N. Security Council. NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon recalls what happened that morning, as the news broke and America coped with the loss of another spacecraft and a crew of seven astronauts, and he and his production team brought the story to the NPR audience.

In the midst of the 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, it's easy to forget about Space Shuttle Columbia, which was lost during a heady time in early February 2003: the run-up to the Iraq War.  The morning the Columbia was lost, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were meeting at Camp David to discuss Iraq; just a few days later, Secretary of State Colin Powell would address the U.N. Security Council. NPR Weekend Edition host Scott Simon recalls what happened that morning, as the news broke and America coped with the loss of another spacecraft and a crew of seven astronauts, and he and his production team brought the story to the NPR audience.