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Space Shuttle Columbia is in a decent for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will pass over the San Francisco Area around 6:00 AM Pacific Time. Route will take the Shuttle over Las Vegas, Flagstaff, etc. NASA has still not decided which runway will be used. Landing will be at 9:16 AM Eastern.

<p>CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — The space shuttle Columbia has exploded over Texas.</p> <p>The space shuttle Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on January 16.</p> <p>NASA declared an emergency after losing communication with space shuttle Columbia as the ship soared over Texas several minutes before its expected landing time Saturday morning.</p>

<p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.  — Space Shuttle Columbia blew up and disintegrated in flames over Texas Saturday morning, just 16 minutes before it was expected to land at Cape Canaveral. A senior U.S. official said the spacecraft was "gone."</p> <p>Seven astronauts -- six Americans and the first Israeli to go into space -- were aboard the shuttle, which had been orbiting the Earth for 16 days.</p>

President Bush will address the nation from the Oval Office on the Columbia tragedy, after calling the Prime Minister of Israel to give his condolences.There have already been mid level diplomatic exchanges of sorrow between the two nations.

<p>Welcome to our journal chronicling the landing of space shuttle Columbia as it ends a 16-day science mission. Landing is scheduled for Saturday morning, Feb. 1, at Kennedy Space Center. See more coverage on our mission page or read more news on our space page.</p>

Calling all praying Freepers. Today at 3 PM let's all offer special prayers for the crew of Columbia, their families and friends, the NASA staff, our President, and for the USA. As a Roman Catholic, 3 pm is known as the Hour of Divine Mercy, the hour at which Our Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross for the salvation of the world. We have a special form of prayer called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. This form of devotional prayer can be found on the internet HERE Whatever your particular background, let's join in prayer at 3 pm in...

All eyes are on Ilan Ramon As poster boys for the Israel Space Agency go, it does not come much better than Colonel Ilan Ramon. 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 Ilan Ramon As the son of an Auschwitz survivor, who grew up to become a fighter pilot in the Israeli air force and fought in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War - his personal history is intertwined with that of...

A spectator at the space shuttle landing facility weeps after hearing the news of the breakup of the Space Shuttle Columbia over Texas on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Space shuttle Columbia apparently disintegrated in flames over Texas on Saturday minutes before it was to land in Florida. TV video showed what appeared to be falling debris, as NASA declared an emergency and warned residents to beware of falling objects. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) An unidentified worker in the Vehicle Assembly Building (L) is consoled by security officer Susan Nelson after the space...

The Green Hills of Earth Let the sweet fresh breezes heal me As they rove around the girth Of our lovely mother planet Of the cool, green hills of Earth. We rot in the moulds of Venus, We retch at her tainted breath. Foul are her flooded jungles, Crawling with unclean death. [ --- the harsh bright soil of Luna --- --- Saturn's rainbow rings --- --- the frozen night of Titan --- ] We've tried each spinning space mote And reckoned its true worth: Take us back again to the homes of men On the cool, green hills of...

Commander Rick Husband has just one other spaceflight under his belt and already he's flying as commander. That's a rarity. "I think a lot of it has to do with being in the right place at the right time, for starters," says Husband, 45, an Air Force colonel from Amarillo, Texas.The former test pilot was selected as an astronaut in 1994 on his fourth try. He made up his mind as a child that that was what he was going to do with his life."It's been pretty much a lifelong dream and just a thrill to be able to...

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...

February 1, 2003 Lord, guard and guide the men who fly Though the great spaces in the sky. Be with them always in the air, In darkening storms or sunlight fair; Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer, For those in peril in the air! (Mary C. D. Hamilton) By now, you're aware that Space Shuttle Columbia, scheduled to return to Earth this morning, has exploded on re-entry. We have lost seven more of the bravest and best members of our race. The thought is near to unendurable. The tragedy is not at all assuaged by the routine observation...

<p>On behalf of posters on Free Republic, I post this with deepest sympathy for the crew and their families.</p> <p>This is a continuation of the original thread.</p> <p>Shuttle Contact LOST-No Tracking Data During RE-Entry!</p> <p>ANY DU LINKS OR POSTS WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY. Keep them on the original thread.</p>

In light of today's Columbia disaster, it is perhaps time to revisit the intentions behind the now-cancelled National Aerospace Plane (the X-30) program. That program, in many ways, addressed what are apparently many of the problems that led to this explosion and loss of life. In the early 1980s, the Reagan Administration, through DARPA (the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency) formed a team of services (the Air Force, Navy, Strategic Defense) and NASA to design and build a scramjet-powered spaceplane that had aicraft-like operational characteristics. The goal was to make a space plane that was genuinely reusable, unlike the shuttles,...

NASA STATEMENT ON LOSS OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH COLUMBIA A Space Shuttle contingency has been declared in Mission Control, Houston, as a result of the loss of communication with the Space Shuttle Columbia at approximately 9 a.m. EST Saturday as it descended toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was scheduled to touchdown at 9:16 a.m. EST. Communication and tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST at an altitude of about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. At the time communications were lost. The shuttle was traveling approximately 12,500 miles per...

Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.

JANUARY 29, 08:17 ET Astronauts Remember Challenger Disaster By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts briefly interrupted their science work on the 17th anniversary of the Challenger disaster to remember their fallen comrades. NASA's work force, in orbit and on Earth, observed a moment of silence Tuesday at the exact time that Challenger exploded in the sky Jan. 28, 1986. They honored not only on the seven Challenger astronauts, but also the three who were killed by a fire in their Apollo spacecraft at the pad Jan. 27, 1967. At the launch...

Security reached an all time high at Cape Canaveral in Florida as NASA counted down the final hours and minutes to the launch of space shuttle Columbia with Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon aboard. Ramon's wife assured reporters that her husband is "calm and relaxed" but the astronaut's son said his father was truly excited about the launch. "I am glad that this is making people happy," Ramon told Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when they spoke by telephone on Wednesday. "There is no more important period in which it is good to make people happy. It is an honor to...

If you have NASA TV, I recommend tuning in. Space Shuttle Endeavor is about an hour away from docking with the International Space Station. Some awesome live shots coming from both craft.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Nov. 9 — It was bad enough when a medical problem sidelined one astronaut, but then a back injury forced another off space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming flight, sending shock waves through the crew. Not since Apollo 13 had a career astronaut, let alone two, been bumped from an impending U.S. space shot because of health concerns."We were joking a lot about being Number 113," said Kenneth Bowersox, who at last check was still fit for Monday's launch and a lengthy space station stay. He suggested, during lighter moments, changing the mission's STS-113 designation.For the record, Endeavour's flight...