Shuttle explodes Over Texas

USA TODAY ^ | 2/01/03 | AP

[Polly]

Great pics. Look at those smiling children of God---all of their respective Gods, I don't care what name they give Him...He is Love....all over the universe. I am glad they were able to have the glorious experience of going into space, and that they lived.

[Terry Mross]

What?

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

All this "if you find a piece of the debris don't touch it because it may be toxic" stuff is ridiculous.

You've obviously never worked with hypergolic fuel or a variety of other materials.

[Savage Beast]

Vielen Dank. Liebe zu den Leuten von schönem Deutschland.

[djf]

Indeed. We aren't born with wings, but we still have dreams.
God aid and comfort their family and friends, all of the NASA folk.

[seams2me]

Palestine Texas would be roughly on the route from DFW to Houston, where other debris has been reported.

I am in the Fort Worth area, and I heard what I thought was someone trying to break my door in at 8 am. Turns out, that's what it was.

What a sad day for all of us.

[Lancey Howard]

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. Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, had assured reporters Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard.

These engineers better have good notes. They are about to get put through the ringer.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

All this "if you find a piece of the debris don't touch it because it may be toxic" stuff is ridiculous

Why?

[Martin Tell]

Official NASA link, http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/status.html is very good - gives real time updates. Chronology leading up to the crash is chilling, however.

[Michael81Dus]

:-) Ich würde mich freuen, wenn wir nicht nur jetzt, sondern stets in schweren Zeiten zusammenstehen!

(I´d be happy to stand together not only now but especially in hard times.)

[kattracks]

Texans Report Loud Bang As Shuttle Neared

DALLAS, Feb 01, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Residents of north Texas heard "a big bang" Saturday about the time the space shuttle Columbia disappeared on its way to a landing at Cape Canaveral.

"It was like a car hitting the house or an explosion. It shook that much," said John Ferolito, 60, of Carrolton, north of Dallas.

NASA declared an emergency after losing communication with Columbia as the ship soared across Texas at an altitude of about 200,000 feet, while traveling at six times the speed of sound. The space agency said search and rescue teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were alerted.

Gary Hunziker in Plano said he saw the shuttle flying overhead. "I could see two bright objects flying off each side of it," he told The Associated Press. "I just assumed they were chase jets."

"I was getting read to go out and I heard a big bang and the windows shook in the house," Ferolito told The AP. "I was getting ready to go out and I heard a big bang and the windows shook in the house. I thought it was a sonic boom."

Louisiana State Police in Bossier City, 182 miles east of Dallas, got so many calls that one trooper had to be assigned just to answer the phone.

"One said he saw a plane breaking up over Shreveport. One said he saw a big ball of fire. One guy said his house had a blast that shook his house," state police Sgt. Steve Robinson said. That call was from DeSoto Parish, south of the parish where Bossier City is located.

"Back in the 1980s, a Russian satellite re-entered the atmosphere," Robinson said. "We got lots of calls about that. Turned out it went down a thousand miles from here."

[seams2me]

Lots of nutcases will jump on this.

The shuttle was still around 200 ft, when this happened, and going faster than anything else on earth.

Whatever happened, it took place upon the shuttle itself.

[Michael81Dus]

I fear you´re right. But a glimmer of hope still exist. When will they ever learn?

[PAR35]

he making this up

YES

[seams2me]

That is untrue. This type of debris is highly toxic, especially if it has space fuel all over it.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

she might have been goin soo fast she just broke apart?

[seams2me]

I am near Fort Worth, and from a sound sleep at 8 am (it IS
Saturday, after all) I heard what sounded like someone trying to force my front door open. I woke up and checked the house and went back to bed after determining that was not what I had heard.

A little while later my husband called from work and said "turn on Fox NEWS, something happened to the shuttle"....

[Kevin Curry]

200,000+ feet, 12,500+ mph (a little higher and six times faster than a SR-71). You are right. There was no missile or other external cause.

[nwrep]

It is sickening, but at least 3 separate threads at DU blaming Bush/Rove for orchestrating this. Very few dissenters. How sad, how depraved of them.

[seams2me]

Taking into consideration the speed and re-entry risks, this may have been a catastrophic failure of some system on the shuttle: such as the insulation which had been damaged on takeoff.

No one knows yet, so let's put away the pointy tinfoil hats and watch Fox News.