Posted on 02/01/2003 3:04:03 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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 William "Willie" McCool, Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Laurel Clark and David Brown, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, who is the first Israeli astronaut to fly on a Shuttle mission.
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