spacetoday.net: Columbia breaks apart during reentry; crew feared lost

Updated: Sat, Feb 1, 2003, 12:30 PM ET (1730 GMT)
Originally Posted: Sat, Feb 1, 2003, 10:15 AM ET (1515 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

NASA had scheduled a press conference for 11:30 am EST (1630 GMT) to discuss the fate of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-person crew, but that press conference has been delayed, with no new time set. The space shuttle Columbia apparently broke apart during reentry at 9 am EST (1400 GMT) over Texas while on approach to land at the Kennedy Space Center, and its seven-person crew is feared lost. Contact with the shuttle was lost while the shuttle was reentering the atmosphere over north Texas at an altitude of approximately 60 kilometers, on approach to a 9:16 am EST (1416 GMT) landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Contact was not regained with the shuttle and the orbiter failed to land in Florida as scheduled. Mission controllers declared a flight "contingency" shortly after the shuttle was overdue, as controllers preserve data collected during the reentry to aid investigators. NASA announced around 9:30 am EST (1430 GMT) that it had alerted search and rescue teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area about the incident. NASA is asking people who find debris to report it to local law enforcement and not to approach it, as it may be hazardous. Video taken by amateurs on the ground, and broadcast on network television, show a single spot — the shuttle — appear to break apart into a cloud of debris around the time contact was lost. People in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area also reported hearing and feeling a loud boom believed to be associated with the incident. Wire services report that President Bush has been briefed at Camp David about the incident, and officials are meeting at the Pentagon, although administration officials state that they have no reason to believe that the incident was an act of terrorism.