NASA lost communication with space shuttle Columbia...

[Losttrak]

"CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA lost communication with space shuttle Columbia shortly before its scheduled landing on Saturday. It was unclear whether there were any other problems.

Mission Control reported no communication with the shuttle after 9 a.m. EST.

The shuttle was carrying the first Israeli astronaut and six Americans, and authorities had feared it would be a terrorist target.

Fifteen minutes after the expected landing time, and with no word from the shuttle, NASA announced that search and rescue teams were being mobilized in Dallas and Fort Worth areas.

NASA, while not saying the shuttle had exploded, broken up or crashed, warned that any debris found in the area should be avoided and could be hazardous.

Inside Mission Control, flight controller hovered in front of their computers, staring at the screens. The wives, husbands and children of the astronauts who had been waiting at the landing strip were gathered together by NASA and taken to separate place.

Columbia was at an altitude of 200,700 feet over north-central Texas at a 9 a.m., traveling at 12,500 mph when mission control lost contact and tracking data.

Reporters at the landing strip were ordered away 7 minutes after the scheduled touchdown with still no sign of the shuttle.

In 42 years of human space flight, NASA has never lost a space crew during landing or the ride back to orbit. In 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff.

Security had been tight for the 16-day scientific research mission that included the first Israeli astronaut.


The shuttle Columbia was captured by TV cameras as it flew over Dallas, Texas, on Saturday morning, on its way to a planned 9:16 a.m EST landing at the Kennedy Center.



Ilan Ramon, a colonel in Israel's air force and former fighter pilot, became the first man from his country to fly in space, and his presence resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia's January 16 launch, but also for its landing. Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target.

On launch day, a piece of insulating foam on the external fuel tank came off during liftoff and was believed to have struck the left wing of the shuttle. NASA said as late as Friday that the damage to the thermal tiles was believed to be minor and posed no safety concern during the fiery decent through the atmosphere.

Science mission
Columbia's crew -- Ramon and six Americans -- completed all of their 80-plus experiments in orbit.

They studied ant, bee and spider behavior in weightlessness as well as changes in flames and flower scents, and took measurements of atmospheric dust with a pair of Israeli cameras.

The 13 lab rats on board -- part of a brain and heart study -- faced the guillotine following the flight so researchers could see up-close the effects of so much time in weightlessness.

The insects and other animals had a brighter, longer future: the student experimenters were going to get them back and many of the youngsters planned to keep them, almost like pets.

All of the scientific objectives were accomplished during the round-the-clock laboratory mission, and some of the work may be continued aboard the international space station, researchers said.

The only problem of note was a pair of malfunctioning dehumidifiers, which temporarily raised temperatures inside the laboratory to the low 80s, 10 degrees higher than desired.

Some of Columbia's crew members didn't want their time in space to end.

"Do we really have to come back?" astronaut David Brown jokingly asked Mission Control before the ride home. "




Ruh Roh

[dezhen2001]

i hope to God they can all be found safely and reunited with their families :(

if not, then what is this world coming to? :(:mad:

dawood

[JAZA]

Shuttle disintegrated in the approach to atmosphere, I heared in BBC.
I'm very sad for all of them.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Couldn't sleep this morning (dang Qigong!) and saw the footage. No hope for survivors. I hope thier families manage well.

[yenhoi]

Its now official:

god hates jews.



heartbreaking. :(

[TkdWarrior]

sad news...

-TkdWarrior-

[NorthernMantis]

Originally posted by yenhoi
Its now official:

god hates jews.



heartbreaking. :(

Uhh I don't know if you were being sarcastic but in case you didn't know Jesus was Jewish so don't start with that.

What about the Americans that died right now and the past? How come you don't say anything about htem?

[No_Know]

It's still early. The footage seems to indicate large pieces. It's still early.

[Chang Style Novice]

Yes, it's still early, but lets be smart.

The shuttle broke up into pieces - there is no chance for anything remotely resembling a controlled landing.

This happened at ~200,000 feet, approximately 33 miles in the air.

There are not going to be any survivors. The crew of the space shuttles are heroes regardless of any other considerations. They have all risen to the top of their field to even be considered for the mission. Their discipline, brains, and talent are an inspiration to anyone who bothers to think of it. The risks involved in space travel are extraordinary, and no-one would ever try it if the potential rewards in knowledge were not even more extraordrinary.

Every shuttle crew deserves our honor and respect and maybe even our adulation. Not just the crews that were killed by the risks.

If there is any good to come from this tragedy, it will hopefully be the understanding that we cannot afford to cheapskate out on these kinds of activities. NASA has been underfunded for years, and there's even been talk of privatizing to cut costs further.

That's the kind of thinking that led to running a 22 year old craft repeatedly on the most stressful mission ever. If you're going to do something, do it right - not cheap.

There's been a lot of yappage on the TV about how the shutttles were meant for 100 missions each, and this was only the 113th mission of all the shuttles put together. What I want to know is who came up with that figure, and how? You can only learn that sort of thing (as far as I know) through trial and error. It sounds to me like someone was talking out their ass with that 100 mission estimate. Colombia broke up upon re-entry due to so far unkown factors on her 28th mission. Challenger exploded during takeoff due to o-ring failure on her...well, I don't know, but considerably less than 100th mission. If we're going to continue to run shuttle missions, we obviously need to rethink the design and life expectancy of the craft.

And before I get too far off topic here, let me restate it in large bold, italicized text
Every shuttle crew deserves our honor and respect and maybe even our adulation.

[NorthernMantis]

Huh? Serpent are you trying to joke or being srious?WHich SOB are you refferring to?

[No_Know]

"dis·in·te·gra·tion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ds-nt-grshn)
n.
The act or process of disintegrating.
The state of being disintegrated.
Physics & Chemistry. The natural or induced transformation of an atomic nucleus from a more massive to a less massive configuration by the emission of particles or radiation. "-dictionary.com

The word disintegreated was mentioned, but there are enough lagre pieces that it can more be said it broke-up.

Lost communication? Theoretically communication~ was lost~.

Loss of communication does not say it didn't have damage. Seperate things, even if related.

[yenhoi]

Northern Mantis, I was just joking.

But I do think it was the Jew's fault. !st Israeli in space, 1st time a shuttle explodes on re-entry......... hrm, god just doesnt like them me thinks.

:eek:

[JAZA]

Great words Chang

[Crimson Phoenix]

ooohh come on, no one gives a shi@t when a major road crash kills 10+, or when it's a plane crash with 300+ dying. But now, oohhh, it's the SHUTTLE, so everyone's gonna make a big fuss about it...
Of course these men and women were elite and deserved respect, but so do every human dying, frm an engineer to a beggar. No one has more value than anyone else, a life is a life.
So please, cut the PC crap about it, because you don't go into similar mourning each time someone dies...

[Mr Punch]

It's a **** shame.

And I'm with Crimson. It's a **** shame when anybody dies.

But remember, death isn't the opposite of life, just another part of life. Those who want to can even believe it's a continuation.

My thoughts are still with the families. Maybe it's harder cos it's all so public.

[Stranger]

There is nothing hypocritical about lamenting the loss of the seven astronauts.

[Mr Punch]

Completely agreed. It's very sad for the families.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Stranger, I never said there was. What is hypocritical, IMHO, is to give it more importance because it was the shuttle and they were elite members of the society. I'm sorry, but most of the time nobody won't give a shi@t if a hungarian plane crashes in the mountains of Albany, even if 300 die in it. What I don't like is because it's the shuttle and 7 astronauts, it becomes like a worldwide catastrophy. All such disasters should be treated with equal respect and mourning, and in reality most aren't.
That's what I do not like about this whole shuttle story, with all these people acting all sad and tragedy-like when the rest of the time they don't raise an eyebrow to hundreds of people dying in catastrophies on the opposite side of the globe. Are these people less important because they were not some high-class scientist coming back from space??

[David Jamieson]

The shuttles are old, they aren't going to last forever.

If two shuttles go down inside of 15 years, those are pretty good win/loss ratios.

Only 7 people died and a 1 billion dollar machine was lost.
I personally don't think that in the grand scheme of things it is really all that newsworthy other than maybe the Space agencies should try to consider better maintenance programs to prevent these huge losses of tax dollars on the exploration of space.

We can't even keep people from being homeless and hungry in our own country. We can't keep out own planet relatively environmently sound. And we want to head into space to place weapons and surveylance systems and to discover how many times a rat craps in zero G?

That's some mixed up priorities there. More media fuel of distraction to keep our minds off the real issues at hand.

Sorry to hear another 7 astronauts died, I'm even more sorry I don't hear anything about the thousands who die everyday.

[Black Jack]

"Its a ******* shame when anybody dies".

Not Really.

What IMHO is a shame is that instead of just closing there pie holes and giving this tragedy its respect the globalists use it as there time to preach.

[Royal Dragon]

So, does anyone have a heads up on what caused it yet?

[joedoe]

Nothing yet but there is a suspicion that an incident at takeoff may have contributed - a piece of the fuel tank fell off during takeoff and struck the left wing.

[Laughing Cow]

Have to agree witht he excessive media hype about the shuttle crash.

Switch the TV on, read the Newspaper, go on the Internet.

Columbia this and Columbia that.

What happened to the rest of the news and happenigns in the world like North Korea, iraq and so on??

All I see the media hype os good for is too sell TV-ratings, newspapers and so on.

Yes, it is tragedy and a set-back for NASA. But the impact of it does not affect many people besides the ones directly involved with the Space program and the ISS.

If the Chinese get a man into space next year it will change the whole balance between NASA, ESA and the Russians.

I also think that the Israeli Astronaut is way to over-played, not many people are mentioning the India born Astronaut that also died.

Just my view naturally, and people can feel free to disagree.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Well, Black Jack, I do not see where it's a lack of respect to say that every tragedy deserves equal respect. Yesterday night, a whole family got crush in a car by a train in the north of France. 5 dead, among which three young children.
I know you have no mean of being aware of that, but be honest and tell me: if you had heard of it, would you have made a thread about it, and express your condolences? Of course not. You know it.
After all, who cares, there are accidents everywhere, and most of all they were French, in a lost region of this lost country that is France. You'd have forgotten it the second after you heard it. But now, with this stuff, oooohhh, it's the Shuttle, and dare I say American pride, so it's a worldwide issue. Special threads, dramatic mourning are therefore mandatory for everyone in here, or you are a dirty globalist (I'd take it as a compliment).
Is it really fair?? In truth, no. I do not blame you for not being aware of every incident causing death on earth, it's impossible. I'm just pointing out that it's a bit nauseating to see this (I agree, a very sad one nevertheless) issue take immense proportions because of its context when dozens of peeps can die in less mediatic accidents without anyone feeling the need to raise an eyebrow.

Now do not confuse this statement with an absence of compassion for these great men and women who died in this tragic accident. It is not because I point that out that I do not feel the due respect they have to be given. Don't make my words say more than they did.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

on the brightside someone told me that it rained human debries over texas and another state.

im not entirely sure that there would be enough left to be identified as once human, but its still a plesant mental image.

[Crimson Phoenix]

Stumble, please keep your assumptions to yourself. I'm not burning the american flag...where do you think I learnt english? My father has been living in the USA for 18 years now, and he's a US citizen.
My words might sound harsh but 1) as we say here "who loves strong, blames strong" and 2) my words are independant of the context and I hold such position over anything. If a french man was to do the same thing for a french stuff, I'd tell him exactly the same thing.
So once again, stop assuming that 1) I am anti-
US and 2) I do not keep the same level of objectivity for everything, US or not.
And as far as I'm concerned, most of you can start giving me moral lessons when you stop bashing France. Not a pride or chauvinism issue here, but it's quite common here to cuss France and French things all the time, more than any other country (including China). This, is OK for you, but as soon as we criticize America we are called many names. I do not see why there should be such an inconsistency. Either you treat every country the same (you can love your country without beeing blind to all its downfalls), either you quit giving moral lessons when someone "attacks" your own when you've been cussing other countries freely like it was a right given by your illusory superiority in the world order.

"Do unto others as you would like done unto you, and do not do unto others as you would not like done unto you". This is the whole content of the Bible as a rabbi said once.
I also believe all the ones quick on talking about wude should ponder and practice these words before tring to give lessons to everyone.

[Mr Punch]

Let's have a moment of respect for that family of five that died in France.





But don't let us confuse that with even a mote of respect for the French!!! :D

Originally posted by Crimson Phoenix
And as far as I'm concerned, most of you can start giving me moral lessons when you stop bashing France.

Bwuhahaha, not gonna happen!:D

Not a pride or chauvinism issue here, but it's quite common here to cuss France and French things all the time, more than any other country (including China).

Of course there's a pride and chauvinism issue here... you're French for goodness sake! What, you expect to treated like an equal?! :p After what you did to my country? Have you seen my ****ing nose! Let me tell you, it's not very ****ing Anglo-Saxon!

Vive les lapins!!! Vive les rosbifs!!!:D

Only kidding, I'm a globalist: I hate Americans, French, Japanese, and my own cursed mongrel countrymen equally!:D ;)

----------------------------------------

But BJeez BJ, don't start using globalist as an insult! Seriously.

----------------------------------------

And I'm quite serious about respect for anyone that dies, as long as they seem not to have shown disrespect for the living.

RIP.


(edited to take the opportunity to further insult the French and my own ******* ancestry...)

[Crimson Phoenix]

LOL Mat :D

[Souljah]

I cant believe you can BUY debris online.....a bit wierd.....

how can you authenticate this debris as being from the columbia? apart from the actual NASA scientists who may be able to I dont see how anyone else really could.....

[red5angel]

you can't souljah, on top of that, anyone sellng it online is mostly likely going to recieve a visit from the authorities at some point.

[FatherDog]

http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,887236,00.html

[Crimson Phoenix]

wooowww...Fatherdog, thanks...

once again all of this happened because some ****s would do anything to cut costs...at the expense of human lives, as often...

it's too sad that we humans only learn after shi@t has happened...

It's too late clenching your buttocks when you crapped in your pants already...

[red5angel]

Guys before everyone starts jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon you need to take a close look at the facts. First of all those in charge do what they can and may not have a choice when it comes to spending money. If you all recall, NASA has been monetarily hurting for several years now.
2nd, this is only the 2nd fatal accident in the shuttle program since it's inception. While it may not sound like a big deal, 175 flights with two accidents on a complicated machine such as the shuttle, through such environments like they pass through, well the numbers start to look better.
Once you take all of that into account do the numbers. At Mach 18 on re-entry, the pressures, heat and violent josteling the shuttle is recieving, entry is automated, and the josteling the crew is getting, it doesn't take much of a mistake for something catostrophic to happen.
Now ask any astronaut if this comes as a shock, meaning that they didn't think things like this could happen. Most astronauts, expect things like this to happen.

As tragic as these accidents are, they are part of the business of working in space.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

"as soon as we criticize America we are called many names."

actually myself and most others take america bashing quite passively. i make fun of the french and japanese so i see no harm in poking the us in the ribs.

[Laughing Cow]

Originally posted by Souljah
I cant believe you can BUY debris online.....a bit wierd.....

how can you authenticate this debris as being from the columbia? apart from the actual NASA scientists who may be able to I dont see how anyone else really could.....

The same thing happened after 9/11.

:mad: :mad:

Sad but true, there are some people tht will try to make a buck from ANYTHING using any circumstance and sadly there are people that will buy what those guys are selling.
:( :(

At one report last year I read that most of the auctions on e-bay are kinda illegal or using illegal fake/pirated goods.

[Crimson Phoenix]

yyaawwwnnnn...you done yet, Stumble?? You must have plenty free time to dig that one thread from where it was...we call it "ego trap" and you just fell in it...good night, my friend...

PS: credits for the very humorous post nevertherless (no irony intended, I'm honest). You have style, don't waste it on useless issues...

PPS: my last intervention in this topic