Editor¿s Commentary: The Cold Odds against Columbia   "In an age
when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to
overlook the dangers of travel by rocket and the difficulties of
navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the earth," President
George Bush remarked in his announcement of the shuttle
Columbia¿s re-entry disaster. "These astronauts knew the
dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high
and noble purpose in life." In the aftermath of the accident,
one of the sentiments most commonly expressed is that such
tragedies remind us that the cost of exploring new frontiers is
measured in human lives.  The idea is true, but it would be
wrong to let it hang unexamined. One hundred and thirteen times
we have sent a shuttle into space. Twice we¿ve seen catastrophic
failures and the loss of all hands. How do those odds sound?
They sound just about like what you would expect, based on the
history of rocketry. As described by Theodore Postol, professor
of science, technology an