Shuttle Contact LOST-No Tracking Data During RE-Entry!

Nasa TV | 02/01/03 | GRRRR

[GRRRRR]

Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.

[sakic]

The real aholes are the ones spinning this politically in this thread.

[em2vn]

Fox News is showing tape of the shuttle debris falling from the sky.

[kcvl]

Thank you for the profiles. May God Bless their souls.

[Catspaw]

And I'm crying.

[oldvike]

Are they suspecting some kind of missle shootdown?

Who said that? Were the newspeople quoting a source or just conjecturing?

[leadpenny]

PIOs? Structural failure during turns?

I've watched a bunch of these recoveries and have never seen a time when they did these steep turns so far out.

[sweetliberty]

This is terrible! I hope everybody on the ground is okay as well. Would everything disintegrate beforehand?

[MasonGal]

I'm crying, too.

So very, very sad.

[itzmygun]

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think they are just saying they heard the boom in Palestine. If the shuttle was then going 12,500 at an altitude of 200,000ft, then it's now nowhere near Palestine.

[mathluv]

My daughter's house was shaken by an explosion. They were afraid it was Eastman Chemical. We are closer to Shrerveport.

[MadIvan]

Would everything disintegrate beforehand?

Unlikely, it had already re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Regards, Ivan

[SpookBrat]

Amen Jinx.

[Catspaw]

It was some Howard Stern ahole.

[bonesmccoy]

so am i...

[Clovis_Skeptic]

There was a graduate of Fresno State (where I live, and my daughter attends), an Israeli, and?

[davidosborne]

My Prayers go out to the families of the crew... If you are in Texas and come across any debris please DO NOT touch it.. Notify LOCAL authorities immediately, they will make the proper notifications.... Pass the word please...

David

[Nubbin]

Oh my God! I live about 100 miles south of Dallas. I heard a large boom & the whole house & windows shook!

[KevinDavis]

I know I shouldn't say this, but I had a feeling this would happen. Our shuttle fleet is old and we should have replaced them asap. I hope this does not hurt human exploration in space. It shouldn't. IMHO

[Thinkin' Gal]

My God, the tree [Ilan, Daniel 4] *was* cut down!

The other day, the instant my morning alarm went off (it is set to the radio) the first thing I heard was what sounded like a mission control person saying that contant was lost and it appeared that the spacecraft had exploded.

I forget the exact words but I awoke with a startle and thought that Columbia had gone down. Moments later, the news announcer continued with the news. Apparently, they were in the midst of replaying audio from the Challenger disaster, when my radio turned on. I was unnerved for hours afterwards.