Undaunted by tragedy - Young astronauts mourn Columbia victims

SMYRNA, Ga. -- When 10-year-old Tyler Brantley settled into his classroom Monday morning, he almost choked up when his teacher handed him a black arm band to mourn the victims of the space shuttle Columbia.

Children around the country grieved for the crew Monday, but for Brantley and the other 49 fifth-graders in Russell Elementary's space center program, Saturday's tragedy hit particularly hard. All year, the students have prepared for a simulated launch in a huge model of a space shuttle.

And Brantley, one of the five student "astronauts" for the mission, said Saturday's explosion didn't make him change his mind about trying to become a real astronaut someday.

"I am going to try, I'm really going to try," he said.

On May 8, Brantley will suit up in an orange suit much like the NASA astronauts wear and spend 27 hours in the simulator -- complete with a bathroom -- with four other students. The rest of the group will staff the simulated mission control.

Class hit hard by news

"With the kids on our space team, we treat our simulation very seriously," said science teacher Chris Laster, who helped create the program. Laster said he and his students have discussed the challenges and dangers of exploring space, but the recent news has shocked the youngsters.

"We've talked about the Challenger and know that something like that could happen again in our lifetime," he said. "We had no idea it could happen in the next three weeks."

Monday morning was particularly rough on Laster's students, and teachers distributed arm bands to help them show their feelings.

"It kind of hurt my feelings because they were astronauts and I'm an astronaut," said 11-year-old Chaney Durham, who tested her orange astronaut suit Monday. "I turned to the news this morning and heard people were trying to sell the debris on eBay -- that made me sick because that's not paying respect to the astronauts."

Laster said he's been asked if the launch will be canceled, but he said the mission will go on as planned.

"What they would have wanted is for us to keep exploring," Laster said.