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The Israel Defense Force's commanders and soldiers congratulate Colonel Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut on his successful launch into space as a team member of the Colombia Space Shuttle. Col. Ilan Ramon's historic flight serves as a special occasion of great significance that highlights the warm friendship of the United States and Israel. The Colombia Space Shuttle mission is an illustration of yet another facet of the international cooperation in complex research expanding human knowledge. Ilan, the IDF congratulates you and wishes you "a safe return home".

<p>Commander Rick Husband has just one other spaceflight under his belt and already he's flying as commander. That's a rarity.</p> <p>"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.</p>

Kalpana Chawla's space dream did India proud NDTV Correspondent Saturday, February 1, 2003 (Washington, New Delhi): Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Columbia space shuttle mishap along with six others, had done India proud when she embarked on her first space mission on November 19, 1997. The Karnal-born Chawla, the first Indian American astronaut, began her career at the Ames Research Center at NASA in 1988. A graduate in aeronautical engineering from the Punjab Engineering College she began work at the Ames in the area of fluid dynamics. Following her successful tenure at the Ames, Chawla in 1993 joined the...

Per Reuters:Iraqis Call Shuttle Disaster God's Vengeance Sat February 1, 2003 02:08 PM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Immediate popular reaction in Baghdad on Saturday to the loss of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew -- including the first Israeli in space -- was that its was God's retribution on Americans. "We are happy that it broke up," government employee Abdul Jabbar al-Quraishi said. "God wants to show that his might is greater than the Americans. They have encroached on our country. God is avenging us," he said. Car mechanic Mohammed Jaber al-Tamini noted Israeli air force Colonel...

The Federal Flag Code prescribes the proper display of and respect for the United States Flag. Each state has its own flag law. Here is the code in its entirety (PUBLIC LAW 94 - 344): JOINT RESOLUTION To amend the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to codify and emphasize existing rules and customs pertaining to the display and use of the flag of the United States of America". Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the joint resolution entitled "Joint resolution to codify and emphasize existing rules and customs...

Rush- Countdown Signals 1982 Dedicated today to Space Shuttle Columbia 2003 as it was written for the first launch in 1981. RIP. Dedicated with thanks to astronauts of Space Shuttle Columbia Young & Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation-Rush Lit up with anticipation We arrive at the launching site The sky is still dark, nearing dawn On the Florida coastline Circling choppers slash the night With roving searchlight beams This magic day when super-science Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams Floodlit in the hazy distance The star of this unearthly show Venting vapours,...

<p>Video of wreckage coming in to FOX and NASA now.</p>

NASA Press conference any minute now....

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Israeli scientists in charge of space shuttle Columbia's desert dust-monitoring experiment said today they have yet to find any dust storms but are zooming in on thunderstorms with electrifying results. A pair of cameras aboard Columbia have captured video images of an elf -- a luminous red, bagel-shaped, electrical phenomenon that occurs above a thunderstorm in less than a millisecond, said Yoav Yair, an atmospheric scientist at the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv. These are the first scientific images of an elf ever recorded from space, and they were captured by chance, Yair said....

Shuttle mission zooms in on electrifying data January 21 2003 at 06:59AM Florida - Israeli scientists in charge of the space shuttle Columbia's desert dust-monitoring experiment said they have yet to find any dust storms but are zooming in on thunderstorms with electrifying results. A pair of cameras aboard Columbia have captured video images of an "elf" - a luminous red, bagel-shaped electrical phenomenon that occurs above a thunderstorm in less than a millisecond. Atmospheric scientist Yoav Yair from the Open University of Israel in Tel Aviv said these are the first scientific images of an elf ever recorded from...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Expert sniffers from the perfume industry are anticipating some other-worldly fragrance treats from a flower experiment being nurtured onboard space shuttle Columbia's 16-day science mission. Alongside experiments aimed at reducing air pollution and prostate cancer, astronauts are collecting essential oils from Jerry O roses and Asian rice flowers as their delicate buds bloom in a special container on the SPACEHAB module, project director Dr. Weijia Zhou said on Wednesday. Zhou, speaking at a mission status briefing, said experiments on a previous shuttle mission showed that the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Working with students for 15 years has taught awarding-winning high school teacher Ed Galindo that toilet humor is a sure-fire way of getting attention. Thus was born "Fun With Urine," the wackiest of more than 80 experiments on the space shuttle Columbia's 16-day science mission scheduled to end on Saturday. The experiment, sponsored by Native American students from the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Reservation in rural Idaho, tackles a serious problem for the future of human space flight: how to combat depression in long-term space voyagers, Galindo said...

<p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Space shuttle Columbia's pure science mission initially was seen as a vehicle for an all-female crew, but that idea was abandoned.</p> <p>Then it was proposed as a carrier for GoreSat, the Earth-observing spacecraft dreamed up by Vice President Al Gore, but that was put on ice by a Republican Congress.</p>

Title says it all.

When the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes, as occurs aboard the space shuttle Columbia when it's in orbit, how does a Jew observe the Sabbath? The proposition is no riddle. It was a real-life conundrum for Israel's first astronaut Col. Ilan Roman, who before Thursday's launch sought to make a symbolic observance of the Sabbath and Kiddush but in ways that would not interfere with his official duties. "I'm not following the rules exactly. I'm secular in my background," said the 48-year-old Ramon, an Israel Air Force pilot aboard Columbia for a 16-day science research mission. "But I'm...

SHUTTLE REENTRY VISIBLE Launch Alert reader Rick Baldridge recently passed the word that part of the upcoming reentry of Space Shuttle Columbia will occur over northern California before dawn on February 1st. According to Rick "The shuttle will be re-entering the Earth's atmosphere over the North Bay Area at 4:48am (22 minutes before landing) which is well before the start of astronomical twilight, yielding a spectacular sight to all of central and northern California, Nevada and points east almost to the Mississippi River basin where sunlight will begin to interfere. Many PAS [Penninsula Astronomical Society] members have seen these re-entries...

ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Brian Webb, KD6NRP Ventura County, California E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp 2003 January 19 (Sunday) 16:35 PST ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SHUTTLE REENTRY VISIBLE Launch Alert reader Rick Baldridge recently passed the word that part of the upcoming reentry of Space Shuttle Columbia will occur over northern California before dawn on February 1st. According to Rick "The shuttle will be re-entering the Earth's atmosphere over the North Bay Area at 4:48am (22 minutes before landing) which is well before the start of astronomical twilight, yielding a spectacular sight to all of central and northern California, Nevada and points...

ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Brian Webb, KD6NRP Ventura County, California E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp 2003 January 30 (Thursday) 20:00 PST ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SPACE SHUTTLE REENTRY VISIBLE The Space Shuttle Columbia is set to land this Saturday morning at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Prior to landing, the spacecraft will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and become an artificial meteor. During reentry, Columbia's groundtrack will pass north of San Francisco at 05:53 PST and continue east. The Shuttle will then pass immediately south of Lake Tahoe and cross southern Utah. Because the Shuttle will cross northern California before sunrise and...

S-300V SA-12A GLADIATOR and SA-12B GIANT HQ-18 The S-300V (SA-12) low-to-high Altitude, tactical surface to air missile system also has anti-ballistic missile capabilities. The HQ-18 reportedly the designation of a Chinese copy of the Russian S300V, though the details of this program remain rather conjectural. In early 1996 Russia astounded the United States Army by marketing the Russian SA-12 surface-to-air missile system in the UAE in direct competition with the United States Army's Patriot system. Rosvooruzheniye offered the UAE the highest-quality Russian strategic air defense system, the SA-12 Gladiator, as an alternative to the Patriot at half the cost. The...

Saturday, Feb. 01, 2003 'Aerodynamics May Explain Space Shuttle Breakup' TIME science correspondent Jeffrey Kluger examines the possible causes and consequences of the Columbia disaster Seven astronauts, including the first Israeli in space, were lost Saturday when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart in the skies of Texas. The incident occurred at an altitude of some 200,000 feet, shortly after reentry and 15 minutes before Columbia had been scheduled to land at Cape Canaveral. TIME science correspondent Jeffrey Kluger explains some of the possible causes and consequences of the accident: CNN TIME.com: What are the possible scenarios that could have...