[kattracks]

NASA Warns of Possible Shuttle Debris in Texas
Sat February 1, 2003 09:57 AM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. space agency NASA lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia minutes before its scheduled landing on Saturday and said there could be debris in Texas from the orbiter.

Television images showed several white trails in the blue sky, which could be an indication of the breakup of the shuttle because normally only a single trail is visible.

NASA said it scrambled rescue units to search in Texas for the shuttle and its seven astronauts, which included the first Israeli astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramonan Israeli.

The agency lost contact at around 9 a.m., about 16 minutes before its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center.

Columbia is NASA's oldest shuttle and first flew in 1981. This is the most serious incident involving a shuttle since the 1986 crash of the space shuttle Challenger, which carried seven astronauts.

[Double Tap]

Brother in law has reported possible debris in Humble and Fort Bend co. and also on Richmond Ave.

[Dudoight]

It might have been 9 am EST, but I heard the explosion at about 8 am in East Texas. I didn't have the TV on, so didn't know about it until a son called me from Dallas. I am really deeply shocked and saddened that what I heard was the loss of all those lives. Tragic.