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Heartbreaking Discoveries of Shuttle Explosion in Hemphill Reported by News Department February 1, 2003 - 7:31PM HEMPHILL, Texas (AP) _ Among the chunks of metal littered across eastern Texas following the space shuttle's explosion were some heartbreaking discoveries: an astronaut's charred patch, a helmet, some human remains. The shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames 200,000 feet over Texas on Saturday morning, leaving a 500-mile swath of debris across several counties. All seven astronauts were killed just minutes before they were to glide to a landing in Florida. Mike Gibbs, an X-ray technician at Sabine County Hospital, was driving on...

Ebay has since cancelled the auction but the page was archived by someone else for the curious to view. Can anyone tell if the item is real or bogus. http://www.jgumby.com/columbia-ebay/

TEXAS authorities are investigating reports that people are trying to sell debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated over eastern Texas earlier today. "We have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing," said Mike Shelby, the US Attorney for the southern district of Texas, after hearing a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report that attempts had been made to sell debris on ebay, an internet auction website. Shelby said that he and his colleague Matt Arwig, the US attorney for the eastern district of Texas, would cooperate with authorities in an investigation. Those attempting to sell...

Iran condoles with US, Indian crew of shuttle Columbia Tehran, Feb 1, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi expressed regret over the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle over the US skies and expressed condolences with the family members of its US and Indian crew. Iran distinguishes between Iran-US political row and scientific, and humanitarian issues Asefi said, expressing hope that such unfortunate events will not deter scientific centers from their attempts to explore the undiscovered secrets of the creation. The space shuttle Columbia appeared to explode and break up in the skies over Texas on Saturday...

RICE, Texas (Reuters) - Debris from space shuttle Columbia rained down onto fields and highways in Texas on Saturday, with witnesses coming across smoldering metal wreckage, including what appeared to be a door from the orbiter, local officials and eyewitnesses said. Reuters Photo A 100-mile-long debris cloud of ash and metal fragments also spread over the state's wide open rural spaces and into neighboring Louisiana, local weather officials said. One piece of wreckage about three feet by five feet was smoldering in a field near Rice, Texas, just off Interstate 45 about 45 miles south of Dallas. Police were urging...

AP World Politics Chirac expresses condolences over loss of space shuttle Columbia Sat Feb 1, 3:18 PM ET PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Saturday expressed his "profound emotion" over the loss of the space shuttle Columbia, saying France felt solidarity with Americans and Israelis over the disaster. Chirac, in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites), said the shuttle's loss was a "terrible tragedy," and he asked Bush to pass on his condolences to the victims' families. Columbia broke apart in flames 60,000 meters (200,000 feet) over Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard minutes...

I know they said the shuttle was too high for a terrorist to take it down with a rocket. Think on this theory. Couldn’t a hacker do it by computer? They did say the re-entry was done by computer. That is assuming there is a terrorist hacker out there smart enough.

"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 . I'm kind of the proof for my parents and their generation that whatever we've been fighting for in the last century is becoming true." - Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut It was with those noble sentiments in mind that Ilan Ramon blasted off into space last month, proudly representing his people and his country as a member of the crew of the...

US space flights 'could be grounded for years' Russian space officials claim US-manned space flights could be grounded indefinitely following the loss of the shuttle Columbia. Sergei Gorbunov, a spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, told the ITAR-Tass news agency it could be years before flights resume. He said Russian Soyuz rockets should be used to ferry crews back and forth to the International Space Station instead. Mr Gorbunov said: "It's absolutely obvious that shuttle flights will be stopped, possibly for some years, until the final determination of the cause of the Columbia accident." If US shuttles are grounded, only...

After the Apollo Moon landings, space exploration went into decline. Nobody went back to the Moon. There was no economic justification and, after the collapse of communism, no competitive spur. The scientific arguments looked pretty thin and speculative when set against the enormous cost. Meanwhile, the obvious next step after the Moon, Mars, simply looked impossible. It was, even if only aesthetically, a great pity. The Apollo rockets were Nasa’s gleaming white masterpieces. Only the Boeing 747 could claim to be a more beautiful machine. The rocket’s whiteness alone was a masterstroke, suggestive of the purity of the impulse to...

How much should we spend on Space? 14 Billion as we do now? 20 Billion? 50 Billion? 100 Billion a year?

One of seven Columbia astronauts killed when the space shuttle blew up over Texas Saturday morning was a role model and an ideal candidate for the space program, said those who knew him as a flight instructor. Plattsburgh-born Lt. Col. Michael Anderson was teaching pilots how to fly refueling aircraft in 1994 at the now-closed Plattsburgh Air Force Base when NASA chose him as one of only a handful of black astronauts. "He was ideally suited for it," said Rich Cantwell, chief of military justice at the base during the years Anderson was there and now the district attorney in...

An independent board is being appointed to investigate the space shuttle Columbia disaster while NASA and a House committee conduct their own separate inquiries, government officials said Saturday. Experts from the Air Force and Navy - which had five of the seven crew members - will join officials from the Transportation Department and other federal agencies on the independent review panel, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said. The space agency also will conduct its own investigation into the disaster, O'Keefe said at a news conference in Cape Canaveral, Fla. House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said his panel would investigate,...

The dangers of space travel Man's desire to conquer space has had a human cost By Jonathan Duffy BBC News Online The shuttle tragedy is an unwelcome reminder that 40 years after the first manned space flight, the dangers persist. Since 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in orbit, man has put himself in peril by pursuing his dream of conquering space. The first manned space flight was a brief affair. Strapped into his 4¾-ton craft, Vostock 1, it took the young Soviet cosmonaut less than 90 minutes to make an orbit of the Earth before returning home....

Florida's Space Coast Worried for Future By MIKE BRANOM, Associated Press Writer TITUSVILLE, Fla. - The nation's space program transformed this area from a sleepy patch of orange groves and fishing communities into a bustling center for tourism and high-technology jobs. After Saturday's shuttle disaster, Space Coast residents didn't need to be reminded how closely their fortunes are linked to the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites). After another shuttle, Challenger, exploded just after takeoff in 1986, the region struggled to recover from the economic and emotional loss. "You're going to see a lot of people out here...

Space Shuttle Program Must Continue The NASA space shuttle program has over 113 successful flights to its record. In addition, NASA has the lion's share of achievements in cutting edge scientific technology areas, virtually slicing through every and all disciplines. However, despite its rigorous safety programs, following is a list of observed near disasters since 1999: 1999 - Columbia's launch was delayed by a hydrogen leak and Discovery was grounded with damaged wiring, contaminated engine and dented fuel line; January 2000 - Endeavor was delayed because of wiring and computer failures; August 2000 - inspection of Columbia revealed 3,500...

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...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/834099/posts Stunned World Sees, Grieves Over Shuttle DisasterReuters ^ | 2/1/03 | Ron Popeski     Shuttle explodes Over Texas   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833933/posts The Green Hills Of Earth, Thread for The Shuttle.February 1, 2003 | Luis Gonzalez   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833945/posts High Flight (poem for the Columbia astronauts)none ^ | December 1941 | John G. Magee   http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833957/posts Columbia Discussion threadFeb 1, 2003     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833971/posts 3 PM Prayers for the Crew of Columbia, their families, and the USA - ALL INVITED TO PRAYdivinemercy ^ | J+M+J the First of February A.D. 2003 | Siobhan O'Halloran     http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833972/posts President to Address...

French astronaut says Columbia should no longer have been used PARIS (AFP) Feb 01, 2003 A French astronaut who took part in an earlier US shuttle mission and has criticised current space programmes said Saturday the shuttle Columbia which disintegrated should have been out of use long ago. Patrick Baudry said on French television he was "up in arms" over the disaster. "I think the shuttle should have been taken out of use long ago," Baudry said: "It's a magnificent machine that the Americans developed. But extremely dangerous." The Frenchman charged that the Columbia was limited in its capacity, and...

<p>Mission specialist Kalpana Chawla is shown during a training session in December at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.</p> <p>Flight Engineer, Mission Specialist and former South Bay resident Kalpana Chawla was a gutsy woman with a penchant for exploring, whether it was the remote corners of Earth or outerspace, said high school classmate and Santa Clara University Professor Atulya Sarin.</p>