"Now, if any terrorist group is involved in this tragedy, they could have done something with the programming of the computer which was overlooked by programmers. Perhaps an extra line of code...."Granted this is a tragedy, and people say random things that wander into the mind, but please--let's leave terrorism out of it. It simply isn't part of the equation. Any one of a few more likely scenarios is most likely the cause. Let's not give terrorists even a hint they've hit our psyche so hard that we try to link every national tragedy to them in some way.These were real human beings on the shuttle, and took a real risk--even the best odds had the risk of an accident during any flight at something like 1 in 500. They are all heroes, and were lost because they are testing the limits of technology of today that will benefit us tomorrow. They were not lost by the hand of another, of that I am certain.Bless them all, and all of you who have some hand in the technology or shuttle missions. Regards,John

We have seen so much of mankind at it's worst over the last 18 months. What these people do represents mankind at it's finest and demonstrates the potential that we all have.May they rest in peace and may their families take comfort from the extraordinary contribution they have made.MikeUK

A very sad day, really. Look at the link below, there are description of the crew members (PDF). How the heck could this happen. Are there any pictures? I've just got that information about the accident anyway and saw Bush's speech. I also just saw Jesco von Putkamer on TV if you know him, as well as the Columbia's first and last liftoff. Is it correct that some liftoff was moved to a later date due to a fuel leak? I can't remember if it was on the first or the recent liftoff. Real, real sad. :'(@Tabs: It was doing Mach 18 at 203,000 feet (from NASA information), that equals around 5.6 km/sec (!).http://www.nasa.gov/STS-107_crew.pdfBackground information on the Columbia:http://www.nasa.gov/columbia.htmlIn deepest sadness and God bless,Etienne

My Deepest Sympathy goes to the family and friends of the crew and all at NASA.Asylum.

May their souls rest in peace. And may their spirits live on and fly forever.My sincerest condolences to the families and friends of these brave pioneers.

>NBC's got footage of wrekage streaming in over Dallas... not >good folks, not good. Columbia was approaching Dallas at Max T, Mach 18, '39 sm' when telemetry began to show loss of sensors. Crew acknowledged this. Last known contact with them before communication was lost about 8:00 AM, CST. Dallas TV stations were recording the re-entry, but apparently didn't know anything was abnormal. 20 minutes latter were they replaying video after JSC acknknowledged loss of signal. Video showed incandescence and eventually multiple rentry objects. A lot of debris appears to have impacted approximately 80 miles ESE of Dallas, including many ZiO2 tiles. At least one fell on a roof. Heavier fragments penetrated roofs and a large piece of debris fell next to a bank in East TX. Major components are likely further East. A 'no fly' zone has been established over part of E. Texas. Ron

TomCould I ask that you change the header - 'Shuttle Columbia Down' - on the front news page. I actually whipped past it thinking it was just a news item announcing the return to Earth of another shuttle mission. It was only when I returned to the page several minutes later that the incredible enormity of the disaster hit me like a brick. I have since sat glued to CNN, FOX News and Sky News and feel an immense sadness, as many people do, at the loss to the USA, Israel, India and the world.RegardsAndy BrockbankBrisbane, Australia

altitude??Thanks,Etienne

Reentry starts at approximately 120km up, or roughly 350000ft.By the time it reaches 200000ft the outer skin of the vehicle will have attained a temperature of between 1200 and 1700 degrees Celcius.It is quite possible that an object the size of the shuttle moving through the atmosphere with (at that altitude) about 20 times the speed of sound and being that hot would be visible from the ground.Remember that the actual visible object is even larger as it was in communications blackout when the breakup happened.This means the spacecraft is engulfed in a large ball of superheated air or plasma with an outside temperature of maybe 1000 degrees Celcius. At the range it might well be brighter and about as large as the full moon.

Sounds clear.I knew you read my last post in the chat... ;-) Thanks! Etienne :-wave