John McCaslin at the WaPo has one of the last emails from William McCool before Columbia began its fatal descent:

“PS ? As I write, we just experienced a sunset over the Pacific, just [west] of Chile. I’m sitting on the flight deck in the CDR seat (front right) with a view of the Earth moving gracefully by. Sunsets and sunrises from space come every 45 minutes, and last only about 30 seconds, but the colors are stunning. In a single view, I see looking out at the edge of the Earth ? red at the horizon line, blending to orange, then yellow; followed by a thin white line, then light blue, gradually turning to dark blue, then various gradually darker shades of gray, then black with a million stars above. It’s breath-taking.”

Yet many people still believe that no one would pay for such an experience.

[via Betsy Newmark]