NASA Space Shuttle Columbia has been lost on re-entry.

As of now, its still not certain, at least publicly what and how it has happened.

Some fragments, perhaps tiles and foam fell off on take off. This has happened before in prior flights without ill effect though. Experts studied this and breakage and determined it should not have caused any problems. Its not known though if this did cause Columbia to break up.

Bush has not made his ‘announcement’ as of yet, he is driving from Camp David to the White House.

News people are constantly warning people NOT to touch any debris from the shuttle due to harmful chemicals.

These chemicals have also been released into the atmosphere. These chemicals and remaining debris are expected to come to earth over the following 4-5 hours.

Colonel Ilan Ramon from the Israel Space Agency was also on board. First Israeli person in space. Security was increased due to Ramon being on the flight. Perhaps due the increased possibility of terrorist attack with Ramon on board.

There are many grass fires cause by the debris

Some rumours have been going around of terrorist missiles shooting it down. This is impossible. The Shuttle was WAY too high for most missiles to get this high, plus the Shuttle was travelling EXTREMELY fast.

The Columbia is/was the oldest craft in NASAs shuttle fleet.

There were seven astronauts aboard the shuttle: Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon.

Quote from someone close to the explosion “I think we are under attack”

From a friend of mine who lives in texas “Not to make light of anything, you should here all the rednecks calling into the local news stations talking about pieces of ‘spaceship’ landing in their fields.”

This was the 113th flight from the NASA shuttle fleet

note, this is not intended as late breaking, amazing journalism, its for my record

Read on for the NASA emergency notice they issued on their front page:

“NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe will make a statement over NASA Television at 1 p.m. EST Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center. NASA released this statement earlier today:

NASA STATEMENT ON LOSS OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH COLUMBIA

A Space Shuttle contingency has been declared in Mission Control, Houston, as a result of the loss of communication with the Space Shuttle Columbia at approximately 9 a.m. EST Saturday as it descended toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was scheduled to touchdown at 9:16 a.m. EST.

Communication and tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST at an altitude of about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. At the time communications were lost. The shuttle was traveling approximately 12,500 miles per hour (Mach 18). No communication and tracking information were received in Mission Control after that time.

Search and rescue teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth and in portions of East Texas have been alerted. Any debris that is located in the area that may be related to the Space Shuttle contingency should be avoided and may be hazardous as a result of toxic propellants used aboard the shuttle. The location of any possible debris should immediately be reported to local authorities.

Flight controllers in Mission Control have secured all information, notes and data pertinent to today’s entry and landing by Space Shuttle Columbia and continue to methodically proceed through contingency plans.

News media covering the Space Shuttle should stay tuned to NASA Television, which is broadcast on AMC-2, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees West longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. Reporters can also go to any NASA center newsroom to monitor the situation.”