[IceFire]

Its 9:40am EST and it sure looks like the Shuttle Columbia has broken up on re-entry.

http://www.cnn.com/
http://cbc.ca/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

That should cover the netviewing.  Its the breaking news...not the kind you want to hear.

[diamondgeezer]

Jesus... I feel sick...

Never thought I'd see the day, but I'm praying for those guys right now. Actual prayer. God help them.

[Ulundel]

Yeah, just saw the news from BBC World. Poor guys...

[Mr. Vega]

Jesus...What the hell happened?

[Bobboau]

first shuttle in twenty years to blow up had an Israili on board, gee, I wonder

[Stunaep]

Just saw it. 7 Astronauts dead, one Israeli, two women.

[Snakeseyes]

Originally posted by Bobboau
first shuttle in twenty years to blow up had an Israili on board, gee, I wonder

You must be very very young. You know, Challenger? And it was on re-entry, at 60 Km high when it exploded.

[Bobboau]

no that was lift off, and it was nearly twenty years ago

[Snakeseyes]

Originally posted by Bobboau
no that was lift off, and it was nearly twenty years ago

Ok, my mistake, the reentry part was about Collumbia. I meant it would be difficult to sabotage it at that time.

[IceFire]

Originally posted by Snakeseyes


You must be very very young. You know, Challenger? And it was on re-entry, at 60 Km high when it exploded.

It was on launch and it was I think around a minute into its launch when it exploded.  This is a completely different set of circumstances.

Reports are saying that they have found some debris on the launch pad and they are now wondering if some of the heat resistant panels were knocked off.

They have people on CNN from Texas saying that there is debris scattered all over the place.  Someones on a scanner and they have all the country reports coming in about burning peices here there and everywhere.  I'd say that pretty much confirms that the shuttle has been destroyed.

[an0n]

IceFire is right, the Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch.

Taken from About.com in reference to the Challenger:

The commission's report cited the cause of the disaster as a the failure of an “O-ring” seal in the solid-fuel rocket on the space shuttle's right side. The faulty design of the seal coupled with the unusually cold weather, let hot gases to leak through the joint. Booster rocket flames were able to pass through the failed seal enlarging the small hole. These flames then burned through the shuttle's external fuel tank and through one of the supports that attached the booster to the side of the tank. That booster broke loose and collided with the tank, piercing the tank's side. Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels from the tank and booster mixed and ignited, causing the shuttle to tear apart.

[Whitelight]

This is the worst news, i couldn`t believe it to be true, at first.

Please could everyone give a moment of silence and prayer.

[Sobek]

Good god.
These shuttles should have been retired years ago, what ever happened to the new shuttles that were supposed to replace them?!

[an0n]

........Why?

[diamondgeezer]

Have we got any members living in the area? Any first hand sightings, or anything?

[Darkage]

I heard about it about a hour ago. Terible, just terible.

[Darkage]

Originally posted by Sobek
Good god.
These shuttles should have been retired years ago, what ever happened to the new shuttles that were supposed to replace them?!

Even with new shuttles with the latest tech this kinda thing can happen.

[Fetty]

still folowing reports but its just repeating the facts over and over

[Black Wolf]

Stealth's in Texas isn't he?

This is fully trucked up .anything that sets space research bvack is bad, but losing 7 aqstronauts is juyst... no idea what to say really .

[Dan1]

Maybe that's why Stealth's not posted yet