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.

[The South Park Republican]

Now it's on the broadcast news...This aint good.

[Indiana Jones]

Just after 8 AM here in Dallas, we were startled by what sounded like a sonic boom...maybe it wasn't anything but our dog went crazy and the windows shook. God be with them and with us all.

[AStack75]

Damn

[Judith Anne]

God be with them, let the astronauts be safe...

[Lazamataz]

this is very bad news.... hopefully the guys are still alive... if they have been able to get out, they have a chance for survival because they have parachutes...unlike during 51-L. They need to find the debris and the guys.

Unless they burned up during reentry.

[lavaroise]

hmmm... the Palestinians must be leaking their chops. There is an Israeli-US team on board...

[Bahbah]

Oh no.

[July 4th]

Not good...major prayers right now.

[Catspaw]

The first Israeli astronaut is aboard. Security was VERY tight for the launch.

Dear God in Heaven.

[The South Park Republican]

hmmm... the Palestinians must be leaking their chops. There is an Israeli-US team on board...

Please...

[linear]

Also news helicopters, etc. headed south shortly thereafter.

[bonesmccoy]

BAD NEWS...SOMETHING IS VERY BAD

CNN has video of a contrail over Dallas with multiple trails... BAD NEWS

[glock rocks]

sirens where?

[leadpenny]

I've been watching this since they started their de-orbit burn. They were doing 80 degree banks over the western US to kill off speed. That's the last time they had commo. I wonder?

[Starrgaizr]

Ronald Reagan

Speech on the Challenger Disaster, January 28, 1986

Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But, we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.

We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them...

There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'

[Catspaw]

Oh, no.

[DainBramage]

On TV they are showing debri coming off during reentry, perhaps a breakup.

[mombonn]

Right at the time it disappeared, we heard a large boom.

Dear God, please, no!

[July 4th]

Weren't they already through re-entry?