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SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA DISASTER  2003 FEBRUARY 1

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/ Shuttle / Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster SHUTTLE DISASTER News: 20050809 CA - Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster -  - "U.S. space shuttle Discovery lands safely." ... "The space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely on Tuesday, bringing a successful end to NASA's troubled return to human space flight 2 1/2 years after the Columbia disaster." ... "NASA accomplished its main goal for the mission -- safely launching and landing the aging shuttle. But when chunks of insulation flew off Discovery's fuel tank during launch, the U.S. space agency learned it had failed to fix the problem that doomed Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003." -By Nichola Groom -Reuters  20030422 - "Columbia investigators: Wing seal source of breach." ... "A seal from Columbia's left wing was apparently the mystery object that floated away in orbit and it was almost certainly struck by something like a chunk of foam before it came off, accident investigators said Tuesday." ... "The investigators also said numerous defects have been found in insulating foam on a fuel tank practically identical to the one on Columbia. A chunk of the foam peeled away from Columbia's fuel tank shortly after liftoff and slammed into the leading edge of the left wing, believed to be a key element of the Feb. 1 disaster that killed all seven astronauts." -AP via  -USATODAY  20030227 - "Engineers' e-mail shows grave doubts on shuttle's survival:  Fears prove eerily prophetic." ... "The e-mail described a far broader, internal debate about the seriousness of potential damage to Columbia from a liftoff collision with foam debris than previously acknowledged." ... "Some NASA engineers were so concerned that they asked the Department of Defense to redirect a satellite to get a view of the damaged tiles. But another official then told the Pentagon not to bother." -By Seth Borenstein and Curtis Morgan -MercuryNews-BayArea  20030219 - "Crews find shuttle's front landing gear." ... "Space shuttle Columbia's nose landing gear has been found largely intact in the woods near [Texas] Toledo Bend Reservoir, officials said Wednesday." ... "Navy Capt. Chris Murray said residents found the gear Tuesday and notified divers who were searching the East Texas lake for shuttle debris." -AP via -USATODAY 20030204 - "Weight of space exploration shifts, for now, to Russia." ... "For now, at least, the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia throws the mantle of space exploration onto a venerable program that is arguably as safe as NASA's, more experienced in manned flight - and by most accounts, hard-pressed to shoulder such a heavy burden." ... "Russia's space program is sophisticated, reliable and poverty-stricken. The national space budget is $266 million, not 2 percent of NASA's $14.7 billion and barely half of what India spends." -By Michael Wines -NYTimes via  -IHT.com  - "As space work goes on, Russia key:  With shuttle fleet grounded, NASA may need Russia to keep the space station aloft." ... "Russia has budgeted for two manned Soyuz launches in 2003 plus three Progress supply flights to the ISS. Those vehicles are almost ready, and one Soyuz could be sent up as early as April -perhaps unmanned, in order to save space and fuel." ... "The Russian Space Agency's budget, $265 million last year, is dwarfed by NASA's $15.5 billion annual allocation." ... "The Russian commitment would have to increase significantly to make up for the shuttle's absence. One of NASA's shuttles can heft 30 tons of materiel in a single launch; the payload of a single-engined Progress is less than three tons." -By Fred Weir -CSMonitor - "NASA focusing on tiles possibly hit on liftoff:  Bush heading to Texas for memorial." ... "NASA officials said Monday that they were focusing for now on the possibility that damage to the space shuttle Columbia's heat-resistant tiles during liftoff on Jan. 16 might have caused the shuttle to break apart as it descended toward Earth on Saturday." ... "NASA set up command posts in Texas and Louisiana as search teams returned to the flat fields and rain-soaked forests of East Texas, looking for debris. Divers plunged into a reservoir where a large chunk of metal splashed down." -By James Barron -NYTimes via  -IHT.com  20030203 - "Workers Find Columbia Shuttle Nose in Remote Texas." ... "Workers fanned out across the rugged East Texas terrain on Monday to recover key components of the space shuttle Columbia, including the nose cone, as well as remains from seven astronauts killed when the spacecraft broke apart over the American Southwest." ... "The nose section of the Columbia was likely found embedded in a wooded area near Hemphill, by the Louisiana border, said Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox, who added NASA would have to verify it was the front part of the space vehicle." -By Jon Herskovitz and Judith Crosson -Reuters  - "Breakup may have begun above California:  Caltech astronomer noted 'debris shedding' as Columbia passed overhead." ... "Top NASA officials appealed for photographs or video evidence from amateur sky-watchers on the West Coast, after confirming they had received detailed written descriptions from a Caltech radio astronomer who said he saw what appeared to be "debris shedding from the orbiter" as it streaked over the eastern Sierra." ... "Radio-astronomer Anthony Beasley, of Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory, told The Chronicle the shuttle had "a sparkle effect" as it passed overhead, and then he saw a bright piece separate. "It was like it dropped a flare, and kept going," he said."  -By Sabin Russell -SFGate.com  - "NASA's No. 1 theory: Tiles damaged during Columbia's liftoff." ... "NASA said today that damage to Columbia's thermal tiles during liftoff is the leading theory in the investigation into what caused the shuttle to shatter on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere." ... "NBC News had reported earlier in the day that two days before the Columbia disaster, NASA engineers had sent a memo calculating a high probability that launch debris had gaused [sic] a gash 7-1/2 by 30 inches on the shuttle's left wing." ... "The tiles are designed to keep the 3,000 degrees of heat generated during re-entry from reaching and melting the aluminum hull of the space shuttle." -HoustonChronicle.com   - "eBay users try to sell Columbia debris." -By Scott Ard -ZDNet>News - "A shuttle crash, a global loss:  For space-faring nations, fresh safety concerns." ... "When the space shuttle Challenger exploded during its launch into crystalline skies over Cape Canaveral on Jan. 28, 1986, the loss of seven crew members and an icon of US technological prowess was a national tragedy." ... "Saturday morning's loss of the shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts nearly 17 years to the day after the Challenger accident was a tragedy of global proportions." ... "The international makeup of the crew, the condolences pouring in from capitals around the world, and the aging - and now-dwindling - fleet of orbiters, which serve as key strands in the lifeline between Earth and the International Space Station, highlight how closely many countries with space-faring aspirations have hitched their hopes to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration." -By Peter N. Spotts  -CSMonitor "Columbia shuttle disintegrates just 15 minutes before landing." ... "Space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames 200,000 feet (60,000 meters) over Texas yesterday [Saturday, 20030201], killing all seven astronauts, including the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, just minutes before they were to glide to a landing in Florida." ... ""Columbia is lost; there are no survivors," President George W. Bush announced." ... "It is too early to speculate about what destroyed the shuttle, said Bill Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space flight. A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no immediate indication of terrorism." -By Agencies via-Ha'aretzDaily  20030202 -  - "Multiple investigations will seek answers to space shuttle Columbia tragedy." ... "At least three government investigations will probe the Columbia disaster and NASA's shuttle program director vowed to find the answers so America can continue sending people into space." ... "An independent panel comprised of experts from the Air Force and Navy -- which had five of the seven Columbia crew members -- and officials from the Transportation Department and other federal agencies will study the accident, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said." ... "The space agency will conduct its own investigation, as will the House Science Committee chaired by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y." -By Matt Kelley -AP via  -SFGate.com  -  -  - "Shuttle debris hits Texas and Louisiana: Debris rained down Saturday over hundreds of square miles of Texas and Louisiana, smashing a rooftop, splashing into a reservoir and sending emergency crews on a far-flung hunt for bits of what was once space shuttle Columbia." ... "Authorities urged the public to report any debris but not touch it for fear of contamination from toxic substances. The Army sent in helicopters and soldiers to locate and guard bits of wreckage, which could be pivotal in determining the cause of the disaster." ... "Debris has been tracked in a 500-square-mile area but could be spread over a region three times that, said James Kroll, director of the Emergency Geospacial Mapping Center at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches." -AP via  -CNN  - "Russian rocket blasts off for ISS." ... "An unmanned Russian cargo rocket, headed for the International Space Station (ISS), has been launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as planned." ... "The Russians had already made clear that, despite the Columbia space shuttle disaster in the US, they would go ahead with their launch." ... "The Progress M-47 blasted off at 1259 GMT from the Baikonur facility, which Russia leases from the ex-Soviet Central Asian state." -BBC/News  OPINION - "Turning point for US space effort." ... "... Nasa will now, for the first time, have to think seriously about what takes astronauts into space after the shuttle is phased out, which could come sooner than once thought." ... "Space travel will never be 100% safe. The space shuttle has had 113 missions with the loss of the crew on two of them." ... "Considering what it does, this is a good safety record and there is no shortage of people willing to accept these odds." -BBC/News  20030201 "‘A Big Blow to the Program’:  NASA adviser John Logsdon talks about what might have caused the  Columbia space shuttle disaster and whether it can be prevented from happening again." ... "The first sign of trouble came about 25 minutes before the space shuttle Columbia was scheduled to land on Saturday morning. At about 8:53 a.m. ET, the crew reported a loss of temperature sensors on the left wing hydraulic system. That was followed by reports of a series of other problems over the next few minutes. Still, the shuttle appeared to be proceeding as planned—and then everything went silent at Mission Control. At the same moment, residents in central and eastern Texas reported hearing a loud boom and then pieces of the shuttle started raining down from the sky." -By Jennifer Barrett -MSNBC/-Newsweek  - "Shuttle Breaks Up in Mid-Air, Seven Crew Killed." ... "The space shuttle Columbia broke apart on Saturday as it reentered the Earth's atmosphere high over Texas, killing all seven astronauts and plunging the nation into a sense of grief not felt since the Sept. 11 tragedy." ... "The disaster, almost 17 years to day that seven astronauts were killed in the Challenger explosion, placed the space shuttle program on hold as investigators began searching a debris field stretching hundreds of miles across heavily wooded areas of Texas and adjoining states." -By Jeff Franks -Reuters ~

Links  NASA - JPL NASA Today COLUMBIA Crew  Mission FOIA

: SearchGoogle: <space shuttle Columbia-[News]> "Lost: Space Shuttle Columbia." -CNN /Specials - "Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster." ... "In Pictures." Includes a rough US map of Shuttle Columbia's trajectory when it broke up. -BBC/News "Shuttle Timeline." ... "Columbia’s flight in April 1981 kicks off a testing period that notches one milestone after another." -MSNBC

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