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Crew lost as Shuttle Columbia breaks up - [February 1, 2002] - The crew of the space shuttle Columbia was lost today as the ship came apart during its descent for a planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The ship was over 200,000 feet above North Central Texas, at 9 am EST, moving at about 12,500 miles per hour, when NASA controllers lost radio contact and tracking data communications with the shuttle.
Television and other media networks began to report Columbia as lost not long after it missed its scheduled 9:15 am arrival in Florida. This shuttle flight, dubbed STS-107, had been reported as the final all-science flight in the shuttle program. Specialists in the crew researched earthly dust storms, atomospheric luminosities, cocoon building, and other phenomena during the trip.
We heard the news on WUMB-FM, driving in a car, just after the station played Chimes of Freedom as performed at the Bob Dylan 30-year concert in Madison Sq. Garden.
Attention focused on possible tile damage incurred when insulation frayed-off a solid booster rocket during lift off January 16. Wing-borne tire sensors went mute and heat-buildup was noted in the under-wing region of Columbia before all contact with the ship was lost. In a press conference NASA administrators indicated that there was no onboard capability on this mission that would have enabled the crew to perform an investigative spacewalk in order to view any wing damage on this mission, if the ground controllers had identified the tile loss as dangerous.
In the wake of the accident, bits and pieces of metal debris were found strewn across the town of Nagogdoches, Texas, a wooded region of East Texas located about134 miles northeast of Houston.
The shuttle was commanded by Colonel Rick Husband, on his second space flight, and piloted by Commander William McCool, on his first space flight.
Also on board were Colonel Michael Anderson, Captain David Brown, Dr. Kalpana Chawla, Commander Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon a colonel in the Israeli air force.
Earlier during the mission, Colonel Ramon noted how peaceful the troubled Middle East region looked from above.
"The world looks marvelous from up here, so peaceful, so wonderful and so fragile," he said.
Commander Clark, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, told The Racine Journal Times in an interview before liftoff of her desire to see her former home in the Wind Point section of Racine from space. During the flight, Clark said it was "magical" watching a rose bloom in weightless conditions on ship, and to see a silkworm become a moth. Clark experimented with roses and silkworms for purposes of science, industry, and education, during the voyage.
"These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life," said US Pres Bush as he addressed the nation.
The day, said Bush, "brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. Quoting biblical prophet Isaiah, he said:
"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens.
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry hosts one by one
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing."
See
Developing story on Cnn.com
Mission plan -Nasa.gov
Family members struggle with loss of Racine astronaut -Journal Times, Feb. 1, 2003
Debris falls in Nacogdoches, Texas -Feb 1, 2003, CNN
NASA: Astronauts' sacrifice won't be in vain -Feb 1, 2003, CNN
Israel's First Astronaut: Middle East Looks Peaceful From Space -Jan 29, 2003, Fox
Luminosities in the skies -Jan 20, 2003, Reuters/NYT [reg req]
Shuttle launched. To study sandstorms, more - Jan. 16, 2003, Space.com
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