Three weeks ago, I was sitting in a TV studio, talking about the Columbia launch, which had just taken place. Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli in space, and I was excited and happy. I said Ramon was living a dream which I and so many others have dreamed. It was exciting to be a small part of the TV coverage of that dream come true.

And for the past week, I've been somewhat in a state of shock. And over on over, two filk songs kept coming back to me, both sung by Leslie Fish, one was Fly Columbia, written by Diana Gallagher, which celebrated Columbia's very first launch, and may be the single most optimistic song Fish ever sang. The other is Nightmare Launch, Fish's song about Challenger, which may be her saddest.