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Saturday, February 01, 2003
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Space Shuttle Columbia blew up
and disintegrated in flames over Texas Saturday morning, just 16 minutes
before it was expected to land at Cape Canaveral. A senior U.S. official
said the spacecraft was "gone."
Seven astronauts -- six Americans and the first
Israeli to go into space -- were aboard the shuttle, which had been
orbiting the Earth for 16 days.
NASA lowered its flags at Cape Canaveral at 11 a.m.
EST, but no official statement had yet been made about the fate of the
crew. Officials at Kennedy Space Center said President Bush would be
making an announcement.
The flag was lowered to half-staff at the Capitol
in Washington.
White House officials said there were no indications
that terrorism was involved. Bush was alerted to the likely disaster at
Camp David, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge went to the White
House to monitor the situation.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said no threat was made and the shuttle was out of range of a
surface-to-air missile.
Television footage showed a bright light followed by
smoke plumes streaking diagonally through the sky. Debris appeared to
break off into separate balls of light as it continued downward.
Columbia was at an altitude of 207,000 feet over
north-central Texas at a 9 a.m., traveling at 12,500 mph, when Mission
Control lost all contact and tracking data.
The space shuttle had been aiming for a Florida landing
at 9:16 a.m.
Search and rescue teams were fanning out throughout
four states, searching for debris. Residents were warned not to pick up
any fallen debris, which was described as potentially dangerous.
Residents of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana said they
saw flames and heard a window-rattling boom at about 9 a.m., the same time
all radio and data communication with the shuttle and its crew was
lost.
"It was like a car hitting the house or an explosion.
It shook that much," said John Ferolito, 60, of Carrolton, Texas.
Residents of Nacogdoches, Texas, said debris, including
bits of machinery and pieces of metal, were found strewn across the
city.
"It's all over Nacogdoches," said James Milford, owner
of Milford Barber shop in downtown Nacogdoches. "There are several little
pieces, some parts of machinery ... there's been a lot of pieces about 3
feet wide."
Gary Hunziker in Plano said he saw the shuttle flying
overhead.
"I could see two bright objects flying off each side of
it," he said. "I just assumed they were chase jets."
"I was getting ready to go out, and I heard a big bang
and the windows shook in the house," Ferolito said. "I thought it was a
sonic boom."
It was the 113th flight in the shuttle program's 22
years and the 28th flight for Columbia, NASA oldest shuttle.
Inside Mission Control, flight controllers hovered in
front of their computers, staring at the screens after contact was lost.
The wives, husbands and children of the astronauts who had been waiting at
the landing strip were gathered together by NASA and taken to a secluded
place.
"A contingency for the space shuttle has been
declared," Mission Control somberly repeated over and over as no word or
any data came from Columbia.
In 42 years of U.S. human space flight, there had never
been an accident during the descent or landing phase of a mission. On Jan.
28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff.
Shortly after Columbia lifted off Jan. 16, a piece of
insulating foam on its external fuel tank came off and was believed to
have hit the left wing of the shuttle. Leroy Cain, the lead flight
director in Mission Control, assured reporters Friday that engineers had
concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no
safety hazard.
Gary Hunziker in Plano said he saw the shuttle flying
overhead. "I could see two bright objects flying off each side of it," he
said. "I just assumed they were chase jets."
"The barn started shaking and we ran out and started
looking around," said Benjamin Laster of Kemp, Texas. "I saw a puff of
vapor and smoke and saw big chunk of material fall."
Security had been extraordinarily tight for Columbia's
16-day scientific research mission because of the presence of Ilan Ramon,
the first Israeli astronaut.
Ramon, 48, a colonel in Israel's air force and former
fighter pilot, had survived two wars. He 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 launch, but also for its planned
landing. Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle
more of a terrorist target.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said Saturday there was no threat made against the flight and
that the shuttle was out of range of a surface-to-air missile.
"The government of Israel and the people of Israel are
praying together with the entire world for the safety of the astronauts on
the shuttle Columbia," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said in a
statement.
Columbia's crew had completed 80-plus scientific
research experiments during their time in orbit.
Only two of the seven astronauts had flown in space
before, the shuttle's commander, Rick Husband, and Kalpana Chawla, the
first Indian-born woman in space. The other five were rookies: pilot
William McCool and Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and
Ramon.
Just in the past week, NASA observed the anniversary of
its only two other space tragedies, the Challenger explosion, which killed
all seven astronauts on board, and the Apollo spacecraft fire that killed
three on Jan. 27, 1967.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report. | 
