General Cycling Discussion - Space Shuttle.

while I was posting about LBS I heard loud boom,
got up went to look, just a contrail.
apparently the space shuttle exploded over Dallas.
I am totally in shock. there is Debris on Oklahoma.

Marty

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Houston, Texas (CNN) -- The space shuttle Columbia, with seven astronauts aboard, broke up as it descended over central Texas Saturday toward a planned landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Search-and-rescue teams from the Dallas-Fort Worth area were alerted and area residents were urged to stay away from any possible debris from the shuttle, which may be hazardous, said NASA public affairs officer James Hartfield.

The Bush administration was preparing to convene a "domestic event" conference among all domestic and military agencies that may be involved in the next step.

An administration official said the shuttle's altitude -- over 200,000 feet -- made it "highly unlikely" that the shuttle fell victim to a terrorist act.

NASA officials said they last had contact with the shuttle about 9 a.m. EST, and it had been expected to touch down at about 9:16 a.m. EST.

Video of the shuttle tracking over Dallas showed multiple vapor trails, but NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said it was too early to determine the source.

Steve Petrovich, a police officer in Palestine, Texas, said he heard "a rumble and boom" at about 8 a.m. CDT (9 a.m. EST).

Jim Hubbs of New Boston, Texas, said he heard police discussing over a police scanner "a smoking object going southeast" that disappeared in the Bowie County area near the Arkansas state line.

Officials said no tracking data were available.

Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, was among the seven-person crew. There was no official reaction from the Israeli government, but a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said, "Like everyone else, we are feeling terrible, hoping the slightest hope that still remains at this stage will become a reality."

Columbia is the oldest of NASA's shuttle fleet, first launched in 1981. It was on its 28th mission.

Damn.

Also see http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20849
(or turn on the TV).

They don't know what happened yet , but it is certainly a very tragic event.

There is another thread on this subject in News and Current Events.

Damn is right.

I was actually up this morning for a brief time at around 9, and the tv was on and I caught the announcement that they lost contact with the shuttle. I thought, maybe they'll land safely, but of course that wasn't very likely. I went back to bed and now of course it's on all the channels.

Lotek, I was actually going to ask you if you'd seen or heard anything, you must be right near there! Any debris fall in your area? It looks like most of it fell in unpopulated areas, which is good at least for the people on the ground.

A sad day for NASA and the USA. We forget how dangerous space travel can be. It's to NASA's credit that we think of space flight as routine. Our astronauts are still really pioneers and as they face the new frontier we can expect some to fall. Frankly, it's amazing we haven't lost more when you think of the complexity of the spacecraft coupled with the unforgiving enviornment they work in. God bless them all.

We just heard the sonic boom (2 actually) and I went
and looked, saw contrails and thought little else about it.
No debris here, we are too far west. I'm guessing it was
just breaking up when it passed over us.
I believe the sonic boom actually occured 8 minutes after
columbia passed overhead. (I think I heard that on T.V.)

marty

Lotek.. When the Columbia-? mission blew up over Cape Kennedy in, was it 1984- I was out taking samples about my city. Environmental water samples for county...
Then I lived in Sarasota, Fla.. I heard the radio report and from about 225 miles away, we still could see that famous vapor trail. It was haunting ! Looked same as that famous vapor trail did, on TV back then...
Very sad.. I guess you might have observed the same kind of vapor trail...?

This exact same topic is already being discussed over in the News&Events folder. http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20849

I heard late tonight about the shuttle. Just when space travel seemed almost routine a tragedy like this makes you realise how even the best technology and know how in the world can still go tragically wrong.
God bless the 7 brave crew and their families & friends

Please continue this discussion here:
http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20849