Very close to the anniversary of the Challenger explosion, there is another tragedy. Once again, seven people aboard.
The space shuttle Columbia — the oldest in the fleet — loses touch with ground control over Texas as it prepares to land in Florida. All aboard are feared dead as the spacecraft appears to break into pieces and NASA issues a warning about falling debris. There has been no radio contact with the crew.— from NPR website
This is of course a disaster. When a space mission goes wrong, it really goes wrong! However, this is the first incident in the space program since Challenger in January 1986. Seventeen safe years is not a bad record.
We're a long way from Star Trek.