U.S.: No Indication of Shuttle Terrorism

AP | 2/01/03

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON, Feb 01, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Bush administration officials said they had no immediate information Saturday that terrorism was involved as NASA lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia.

President Bush, who was at Camp David in Maryland, was informed about the situation and awaited updates from NASA.

"There is no information at this was a terrorist incident," said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. "Obviously the investigation is just beginning but that is the information we have now."

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no threat made against the flight and that the shuttle, at an altitude of 207,000 feet over north-central Texas when it lost contact, was out of range of a surface-to-air missile.

Bush was told about the situation by his chief of staff, Andrew Card, and waited for more information from the space agency, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

On a normally slow day, White House officials were scrambling to get into the office. It was not immediately clear whether Bush would remain at Camp David.

"We're all watching TV and devastated and concerned," said John Marburger, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

[Kewlhand`tek]

some idiot on cspan already said BUsh did it

[nwrep]

People at DU are saying Bush/Rove orchestrated this. How sick!!

[applemac_g4]

After having the government prematurely declare that there were no terrorist links for the DC area sniper and the LA Airport shooter, I'm beginning to take a tinfoil hat view of such pronouncements.

That having been said, hopefully security at the Cape is good enough to prevent such things.

[Rackle]

lol who knows? That's the conspiracy theory in my house--that this is all Bush and he's just trying to get votes. lol (and my parents are Republicans)

Personally, I think it's someone down in NASA who passed the Columbia off as safe but it wasn't. Hmm...

[SunStar]

This was the shuttle carrying the first Israeli astronaut... one of the men who flew in the bombing raid over Iraq in the 1980's...

[Chi-townChief]

I hate to bring this up but we know at that speed and altitude, a conventional attack is impossible - is it possible that someone could have hacked NASA's flight control computer?

[Dog Gone]

What about the astronauts on the Space Station? We can't leave them there for 10 years while we try to figure out what happened.

[Mr. Silverback]

Bottom line: Anybody wanted to hit this thing at 207,000 feet, they'd have to have technology good enough to be in our missile defense system.

[Middle of the Road]

DAMN YOU SADDAM!!! We will get you for this!!

I wish everyone would relax on the he did it, they did it ... Arab Muslim Jihadists did it.

Can't we all just have a moment of silence that lasts longer than a minute?

[Fitzcarraldo]

Appears that the shuttle suffered exterior damage on launch that was amplified on re-entry.

[Afronaut]

Except by the media with the Palistine TX report, That is a MAJOR Crime. Go Find it on Mapquest. How on earth does this kind of Crap get out? It is a spec on the map. And the Shuttle was thousands of feet up... Put two and two together and you will see that the US has lost interest in LACI and the News jerks need a new story.

DO not spread this garbage around please!!

Be Smart and respectful.

[Kewlhand`tek]

you better be f*cking joking. If you are not you are F8cking moron! I have not seen one Freeper saying hitlary and her bunch did it. maybe dasshole has something do with it hows that moron

[ez]

WH says no sign of terrorism. This time I agree with them (as opposed to AA Flight 587). The only possibility of terrorism is that the debris which flew off the shuttle at launch was intentionally loosened.

[Centurion2000]

The news stations should have cameras running in the Arab world .... you know they will be cheering.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

While I don't suspect anything connected with terrorism, it was an event like this that brought about the Spanish American War.

(USS MAINE BLOWS UP IN HAVANA HARBOR)

[Sabertooth]

This was the shuttle carrying the first Israeli astronaut... one of the men who flew in the bombing raid over Iraq in the 1980's...

Which is a remarkable curiousity in this tragedy, given the imminent war with Iraq.

Still, I can't imagine how any foreign power could have brought the Columbia down, flying at Mach 7 at 207,000 feet. I'm left, in the sadness of the moment, scratching my head at whether there is a deeper meaning, beyond human intervention, behind it all.

My prayers and sympathies to the families and loved ones of all the astronauts.

[Fitzcarraldo]

I'm speculating, but if this was a terrorist act
its concievable that one or more tiles could have
been impregnated with explosive material that would
be ignited by the heat of reentry. All the explosive
would have to do is dislodge the tile, just a few grams
would be needed.

[BossyRoofer]

God bless there brave souls! I wonder if the new Quark Gluon sattleite technologys have any thing to do with this tragedy?

[ladyinred]

some idiot on cspan already said BUsh did it

Figures! I had just told my hubby that would be happening! I am sure we will hear a lot of that before this is over!

May God be with the families of the crew.