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It didn't take long for many Americans to try to cash in on the space shuttle Columbia disaster, with numerous postings of shuttle memorabilia on eBay – with some claiming to be actual debris. Columbia radio offered on eBay The online auctioneer yanked a handful of listings purporting to be remnants of the orbiter which disintegrated yesterday morning during its descent into the atmosphere. EBay's Kevin Pursglove says executives are considering reporting the sellers to federal authorities who are looking to gather Columbia's pieces for their investigation. It's a federal offense to take pieces of an aircraft involved in an...

Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle by Richard P. Feynman For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Introduction It appears that there are enormous differences of opinion as to the probability of a failure with loss of vehicle and of human life. The estimates range from roughly 1 in 100 to 1 in 100,000. The higher figures come from the working engineers, and the very low figures from management. What are the causes and consequences of this lack of agreement? Since 1 part in 100,000 would imply that one...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CHICAGO (Reuters) - The explosion of the space shuttle Columbia will present yet another challenge for Boeing Co., the largest NASA contractor, as it struggles through an unprecedented downturn in commercial aviation that has sharply hurt its profitability. Chicago-based Boeing builds space shuttles after acquiring the space business of Rockwell International in 1996. It also maintains the orbiter as part of a 50/50 joint venture with fellow defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. called United Space Alliance, based in Houston. Boeing also builds, tests and maintains the shuttle's main reusable liquid-fueled rocket...

Couple Who Lost a Son on Sept. 11 Now Loses Niece Aboard the Shuttle By Miranda Leitsinger Associated Press Writer Published: Feb 1, 2003 DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Astronaut Laurel Clark's death on the space shuttle Columbia was the second sudden and very public tragedy to hit Doug and Betty Haviland in 17 months. Laurel Clark was their niece and her final moments were broadcast again and again on television Saturday, exploding white dots 200,000 feet above the earth. On Sept. 11, 2001, television had first brought tragedy. The Havilands were watching after the World Trade Center absorbed...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad on Saturday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that it was God's retribution. "We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said. "God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said. Iraqis are braced for a possible U.S.-led war to rid their country of any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons it may possess. Iraq denies it has...

This is the picture that Rintense and I have seen...from the WFAA video...you can see the shuttle from the REAR clearly, and it is traveling from FRAME RIGHT TO FRAME LEFT--look closely, you can certainly see the shuttle's main engines at the rear, also the PROFILE of the shuttle from underneath...and in the video, it's moving in the direction of the left wing...

Israeli, US astronauts die in shuttle blast over ‘Palestine’ By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News StaffWASHINGTON, 2 February 2003 — All seven crew of the American space shuttle Columbia, including the first ever Israeli astronaut, were killed yesterday when the craft disintegrated in flames just minutes before it was scheduled to land. In a tragic irony, the Columbia exploded with its Israeli astronaut on board over a city named Palestine in the state of Texas. The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear, but residents in north Texas heard a loud boom as Columbia passed overhead. “I could see two...

CBS Radio News Now Reporting Human Remains Found. Believed To Be From Shuttle / at the 7:45 PM EST update. Unconfirmed report from rural area near Palestine, TX. Sheriffs Dept in that area reports human remains found, believed to be from shuttle.

<p>WASHINGTON - (KRT) - It's too soon to say why the space shuttle Columbia exploded, but the early signs suggest that a heat problem enveloped the left wing and side of the spacecraft before it disintegrated more than 39 miles above north central Texas.</p>

Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s office, Eastern District of Texas, issued strong warnings Saturday afternoon to those who tamper with or attempt to take debris of the space shuttle Columbia. United States Attorneys Matthew D. Orwig and Michael Shelby jointly announced that their offices will take “all necessary steps to ensure that the monumental investigative and recovery efforts following the tragic accident are not impaired by the actions of those who seek to obtain pieces of debris,” according to a press release. While it was widely reported that debris from the accident could hazardous, and contact with that debris should...

<p>LANCASTER, Calif.(AP) - Retired astronaut Gordon Fullerton on Saturday recalled Columbia's 1982 re-entry sequence when he was at the helm of an eight-day flight. "Re-entry begins with a mild rocket burn halfway around the world to help get the orbiter into the right position," he told the Antelope Valley Press. "It's very interesting, for the pilots especially, during the gradual transition from spacecraft to aircraft."</p>

<p>San Jose(AP) - - Online auction site E-Bay has yanked several listings off its Web site today from people trying to sell items they claim are debris from the space shuttle Columbia. E-Bay executives may report the sellers to federal authorities who are trying to collect the debris for an official investigation.</p>

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Seven astronauts -- six Americans and Israel's first astronaut -- died Saturday morning when space shuttle Columbia broke up in flames about 200,000 feet over Texas just minutes before it was due to land in Florida. One of them -- Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-born woman in space -- never got to say goodbye to her family. Chawla (pictured) was a new kind of heroine in India, which has launched satellites for years and is preparing for a moon orbit this decade. She died Saturday with her six colleagues when the space shuttle disintegrated over Texas....

Paramount to Pull THE CORE Trailers Due To Shuttle Disaster Hey folks, Harry here... Well, at 9-11 we lost the SPIDER-MAN teaser that had the World Trade Center on display, this time with the shuttle disaster, they've pulled THE CORE trailer which features the Space Shuttle having massive difficulties upon reentry and seemingly landing I believe in what looks like the THEM! canals in Los Angeles. If you don't remember the trailer, you can get it at ComingSoon.Net if you want it, go get it soon, because... well, the trailer is already being pulled from theaters, online will be next....

Heartbreaking Discoveries of Shuttle Explosion in Hemphill Reported by News Department February 1, 2003 - 7:31PM HEMPHILL, Texas (AP) _ Among the chunks of metal littered across eastern Texas following the space shuttle's explosion were some heartbreaking discoveries: an astronaut's charred patch, a helmet, some human remains. The shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames 200,000 feet over Texas on Saturday morning, leaving a 500-mile swath of debris across several counties. All seven astronauts were killed just minutes before they were to glide to a landing in Florida. Mike Gibbs, an X-ray technician at Sabine County Hospital, was driving on...

Ebay has since cancelled the auction but the page was archived by someone else for the curious to view. Can anyone tell if the item is real or bogus. http://www.jgumby.com/columbia-ebay/

TEXAS authorities are investigating reports that people are trying to sell debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over eastern Texas earlier today. "We have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing," said Mike Shelby, the US Attorney for the southern district of Texas, after hearing a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report that attempts had been made to sell debris on ebay, an internet auction website. Shelby said that he and his colleague Matt Arwig, the US attorney for the eastern district of Texas, would cooperate with authorities in an investigation. Those attempting to sell...

Iran condoles with US, Indian crew of shuttle Columbia Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi expressed regret over the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle over the US skies and expressed condolences with the family members of its US and Indian crew. Iran distinguishes between Iran-US political row and scientific, and humanitarian issues Asefi said, expressing hope that such unfortunate events will not deter scientific centers from their attempts to explore the undiscovered secrets of the creation. The space shuttle Columbia appeared to explode and break up in the skies over Texas on Saturday...

AP World Politics Chirac expresses condolences over loss of space shuttle Columbia Sat Feb 1, 3:18 PM ET PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Saturday expressed his "profound emotion" over the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, saying France felt solidarity with Americans and Israelis over the disaster. Chirac, in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites), said the shuttle's loss was a "terrible tragedy," and he asked Bush to pass on his condolences to the victims' families. Columbia broke apart in flames 60,000 meters (200,000 feet) over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard minutes...

I know they said the shuttle was too high for a terrorist to take it down with a rocket. Think on this theory. Couldn’t a hacker do it by computer? They did say the re-entry was done by computer. That is assuming there is a terrorist hacker out there smart enough.

"I know my flight is very symbolic for the people of Israel, especially the survivors, the Holocaust survivors, because I was born in Israel, many people will see this as a dream that is come true . I'm kind of the proof for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been fighting for in the last century is becoming true." - Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut It was with those noble sentiments in mind that Ilan Ramon blasted off into space last month, proudly representing his people and his country as a member of the crew of the...

US space flights 'could be grounded for years' Russian space officials claim US-manned space flights could be grounded indefinitely following the loss of the shuttle Columbia. Sergei Gorbunov, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, told the ITAR-Tass news agency it could be years before flights resume. He said Russian Soyuz rockets should be used to ferry crews back and forth to the International Space Station instead. Mr Gorbunov said: "It's absolutely obvious that shuttle flights will be stopped, possibly for some years, until the final determination of the cause of the Columbia accident." If US shuttles are grounded, only...

After the Apollo Moon landings, space exploration went into decline. Nobody went back to the Moon. There was no economic justification and, after the collapse of communism, no competitive spur. The scientific arguments looked pretty thin and speculative when set against the enormous cost. Meanwhile, the obvious next step after the Moon, Mars, simply looked impossible. It was, even if only aesthetically, a great pity. The Apollo rockets were Nasa’s gleaming white masterpieces. Only the Boeing 747 could claim to be a more beautiful machine. The rocket’s whiteness alone was a masterstroke, suggestive of the purity of the impulse to...

How much should we spend on Space? 14 Billion as we do now? 20 Billion? 50 Billion? 100 Billion a year?

One of seven Columbia astronauts killed when the space shuttle blew up over Texas Saturday morning was a role model and an ideal candidate for the space program, said those who knew him as a flight instructor. Plattsburgh-born Lt. Col. Michael Anderson was teaching pilots how to fly refueling aircraft in 1994 at the now-closed Plattsburgh Air Force Base when NASA chose him as one of only a handful of black astronauts. "He was ideally suited for it," said Rich Cantwell, chief of military justice at the base during the years Anderson was there and now the district attorney in...

An independent board is being appointed to investigate the space shuttle Columbia disaster while NASA and a House committee conduct their own separate inquiries, government officials said Saturday. Experts from the Air Force and Navy - which had five of the seven crew members - will join officials from the Transportation Department and other federal agencies on the independent review panel, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said. The space agency also will conduct its own investigation into the disaster, O'Keefe said at a news conference in Cape Canaveral, Fla. House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said his panel would investigate,...

The dangers of space travel Man's desire to conquer space has had a human cost By Jonathan Duffy BBC News Online The shuttle tragedy is an unwelcome reminder that 40 years after the first manned space flight, the dangers persist. Since 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in orbit, man has put himself in peril by pursuing his dream of conquering space. The first manned space flight was a brief affair. Strapped into his 4¾-ton craft, Vostock 1, it took the young Soviet cosmonaut less than 90 minutes to make an orbit of the Earth before returning home....

Florida's Space Coast Worried for Future By MIKE BRANOM, Associated Press Writer TITUSVILLE, Fla. - The nation's space program transformed this area from a sleepy patch of orange groves and fishing communities into a bustling center for tourism and high-technology jobs. After Saturday's shuttle disaster, Space Coast residents didn't need to be reminded how closely their fortunes are linked to the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites). After another shuttle, Challenger, exploded just after takeoff in 1986, the region struggled to recover from the economic and emotional loss. "You're going to see a lot of people out here...

Space Shuttle Program Must Continue The NASA space shuttle program has over 113 successful flights to its record. In addition, NASA has the lion's share of achievements in cutting edge scientific technology areas, virtually slicing through every and all disciplines. However, despite its rigorous safety programs, following is a list of observed near disasters since 1999: 1999 - Columbia's launch was delayed by a hydrogen leak and Discovery was grounded with damaged wiring, contaminated engine and dented fuel line; January 2000 - Endeavor was delayed because of wiring and computer failures; August 2000 - inspection of Columbia revealed 3,500...

The U.S. space agency NASA lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia minutes before its scheduled landing February 1, 2002. NASA said it scrambled rescue units to search in Texas for the shuttle and its seven astronauts. The agency lost contact at around 9 a.m./1400 GMT, about 16 minutes before its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center. Columbia is NASA's oldest shuttle and first flew in 1981. A January 12, 2003 file photo shows space shuttle Columbia astronauts pose at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, Pilot...

Originally printed in New Frontiers, the Space SIG (Special Interest Group) newsletter, July-August, 1982, M. Berry editor. You made a mistake asking for mail from those of us who've seen the shuttle. In spite of Senator Proxmire's sober, perfectly reasoned arguments against our enthusiasm, I'll bet you're inundated with personal experiences. Proxmire's right, but he misses the point. Even those few humans that are logical generally don't dream along rational lines. And ultimately more human progress issues from dreams that from logic. It wasn't logical to be happy in November, 1981, when the space shuttle Columbia ran into problems requiring...

Today, Texans were alarmed by a strange roar up in the sky and looked up to witness the sacrifice of six brave Americans and one brave Israeli. We FReeped today for them, the Americans who go boldly forth in our name to do the work of the Nation. Their names will be remembered as we remember the soldiers and marines lost in Afghanistan this week, no less a sacrifice to be killed in training then to die in battle. American patriots understand that freedom is a harsh mistress and its price comes in blood, whether it is the freedom to...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834099/posts Stunned World Sees, Grieves Over Shuttle DisasterReuters ^ | 2/1/03 | Ron Popeski     Shuttle explodes Over Texas   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833933/posts The Green Hills Of Earth, Thread for The Shuttle.February 1, 2003 | Luis Gonzalez   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833945/posts High Flight (poem for the Columbia astronauts)none ^ | December 1941 | John G. Magee   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833957/posts Columbia Discussion threadFeb 1, 2003     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833971/posts 3 PM Prayers for the Crew of Columbia, their families, and the USA - ALL INVITED TO PRAYdivinemercy ^ | J+M+J the First of February A.D. 2003 | Siobhan O'Halloran     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833972/posts President to Address...

French astronaut says Columbia should no longer have been used PARIS (AFP) Feb 01, 2003 A French astronaut who took part in an earlier US shuttle mission and has criticised current space programmes said Saturday the shuttle Columbia which disintegrated should have been out of use long ago. Patrick Baudry said on French television he was "up in arms" over the disaster. "I think the shuttle should have been taken out of use long ago," Baudry said: "It's a magnificent machine that the Americans developed. But extremely dangerous." The Frenchman charged that the Columbia was limited in its capacity, and...

<p>Mission specialist Kalpana Chawla is shown during a training session in December at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.</p> <p>Flight Engineer, Mission Specialist and former South Bay resident Kalpana Chawla was a gutsy woman with a penchant for exploring, whether it was the remote corners of Earth or outerspace, said high school classmate and Santa Clara University Professor Atulya Sarin.</p>

'It's just horrible' 02/01/2003 By KIMBERLY DURNAN / Dallas Web Staff From the suburbs north of Dallas to the far reaches of East Texas, residents heard a deafening explosion and saw flaming debris rain from the sky Saturday as the space shuttle Columbia apparently disintegrated minutes from a scheduled landing. Arlington resident James McAdams, 64, said he found some baseball-sized rubble in his front yard when he picked up his morning newspaper. He described it as "jagged on one section, white on one side and the other side is purple to black like it's been burned." "The FBI is...

Nation mourns astronauts lost aboard shuttle Columbia 02/01/2003 From Staff and Wire Reports The space shuttle Columbia, carrying seven astronauts including an Israeli and three with Texas connections, broke up over North Central Texas enroute to a scheduled landing in Florida on Saturday morning. "Columbia is lost; there are no survivors," President George W. Bush said in an address to the nation. "The astronauts knew the dangers and they faced them willingly," the president said, flanked by two flags and his voice dropping almost to a whisper at some points. Mr. Bush pledged that the U.S. space program would...

Editorial: Columbia crash 2 February 2003 The destruction of the NASA space shuttle Columbia is a tragedy which affects us all. The reason why, other than common humanity, the burden of grief should be shared across the world is that space is a frontier across which all peoples of the globe must push, not just a handful of countries with leading technologies. It will probably be a long time before the precise cause of the shuttle’s disintegration, 200,000 feet above Texas, as it glided at 12,000 mph toward landing, will be known. When, almost 17 years ago to the...

Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings Peter BeaumontSunday February 2, 2003The Observer Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed. In a letter to the White House, Don Nelson, who served with Nasa for 36 years until he retired in 1999, wrote to President George W. Bush warning that his 'intervention' was necessary to 'prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident'. During his last 11 years at Nasa, Nelson served as a...

This is a very small wish. You can Google up NASA to get a web site and a contact email if you wish to extend your prayers and wishes to the remaining souls who could use it. God Bless America.

NASA Unlikely to Build New Space Shuttle Sat Feb 1, 6:15 PM ET By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer NASA (news - web sites) is extremely unlikely to build a new space shuttle to replace Columbia, according to experts, leaving the space agency with the three remaining orbiters as its entire fleet for the foreseeable future. The next generation of reusable space vehicles is at least 10 to 15 years off, said Donald H. Emero, who served as the shuttle's chief engineer from 1989 to 1993. "I think the country will not invest in any more shuttles," Emero said Saturday....

NASA Grounds Shuttle Fleet While Probing Columbia Disaster David McAlary Washington 02 Feb 2003, 01:22 UTC Listen to David McAlary's report (RealAudio) McAlary report - Download 583k (RealAudio) The U.S. space agency, NASA, is suspending future shuttle flights until it knows what caused the loss of the shuttle Columbia and its seven- member crew. Columbia broke up over Texas Saturday minutes before it was to land in Florida after a 16-day research mission in Earth orbit. Seven astronauts, including the first from Israel, went down to their deaths in a hail of shuttle debris over Texas. Dramatic videotapes from a...

Palestinian, Israeli fly tests on shuttle By Richard Stenger CNN Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Posted: 12:00 AM HKT (1600 GMT) Yuval Landau, left, and Tariq Adwan at the Kennedy Space Center ------------------------------------------------------------------------    Story Tools           ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SHUTTLE MISSION GUIDE Gallery: Mission intro, timeline and crew biographies  GLOBAL CREWS Interactive: International shuttle astronauts  RELATED NASA Human Spaceflight  ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Behind the Scenes: A look at shuttle security after 9/11  (CNN) -- In an unlikely scientific partnership that crosses political barriers, Palestinian and Israeli researchers have joined forces to organize a science project onboard the space shuttle Columbia. The science project, which...

Shuttle Catastrophe to Stir Political; Policy Decision Making By Leonard David Senior Space Writer posted: 07:35 pm ET 01 February 2003 The tragic loss of Columbia and its crew will bring about a series of tough decisions by NASA, the White House, and the American public. Both the future direction of human space travel and overall operation of the International Space Station must be addressed in short order. Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 moonwalker and former Senator from New Mexico, said that getting a shuttle back into space is critical. "You can no longer stand-down indefinitely. There is commitment to the...

Local Aviation Expert: Terrorism A Possibility CBS Print This Story Feb 1, 2003 10:58 pm US/Eastern (KYW) (PHILADELPHIA) While leading theories are emerging about what exactly happened to Space Shuttle Columbia on Saturday, Eyewitness News spoke with nationally-renowned aviation expert Arthur Wolk about what may have caused the disaster. While Wolk says technical or structural problems are at the top of his list, he won't rule out terrorism. "Well, perhaps the leading theory is that a very large piece of insulation came off that orange fuel tank and struck the left wing. Of course no one would know how much...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A stunned world watched the dramatic breakup of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia in the clear blue skies over Texas on Saturday, and sent their words of sorrow to grieving Americans. The world's other major space power, Russia, sent its condolences to Washington, but said the disaster would not affect the launch of a supply rocket to the orbiting international space station on Sunday. The seven members of Columbia's crew had "given their lives to conquering the dangers of space in the name of peace, science and progress of civilization," Russia's President Vladimir Putin said. A spokesman...

Did anyone hear Fox TV report that an AP reporter added a smear in a profile of the crew? This was between 12:30 and 1:00 I believe. The Fox person apologized and slammed AP writer. Did anyone hear this besides me? What is AP thinking besides their normal hate selves.

Columbia's Problems Began on Left Wing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 6:56 p.m. ET CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Investigators trying to figure out what destroyed space shuttle Columbia immediately focused on the left wing and the possibility that its thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff. Just a little over a minute into Columbia's launch Jan. 16, a chunk of insulating foam peeled away from the external fuel tank and smacked into the ship's left wing. On Saturday, that same wing started exhibiting sensor failures and other problems...