[Pfc.Green]

Seven astronauts aboard space shuttle.

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.
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How about a minute of forum silence....

Maybe it is a terrorist act. Seeing how an Israelite was a memer of the crew.

[Old Reliable]

hm unfortunately, going in a shuttle is a big risk. i cant believe this has happened the footage looks like it was already burning when it entered the atmosphere

[Old Reliable]

Originally Posted by zxcvnm

Maybe it is a terrorist act. Seeing how an Israelite was a memer of the crew.

how could it be a terrorist act? theres no way a foreign object could enter the space shuttle

[Sergeant_Scrotum]

theirs already anonther thread on this...

[con Brio]

[quote="Sargent_Scrotum":d1468]theirs already anonther thread on this...[/quote:d1468]

*there's

freak:

[Sergeant_Scrotum]

thank you mr spell check freak:

BTW this is the other thread http://www.alliedassault.com/phpBB2/vie ... p?t=155348

[Pfc.Green]

Yes, there was scrotum, but it was going down the shitter..SO DONT RUIN THIS ONE.

[Vance]

I live about 30 miles south of Houston! I have family around the Dallas area and they said they heard a big rumble and saw multiple (about 10) little streams overhead. So far no debris has fallen near them

[Pfc.Green]

Also (most probably already know this) but there is no chance of survivors, because of the altituted and speed.

[Old Reliable]

there is no way anyone could have survived that

[GreenEggs&Pot]

I live in the Dallas area, I did see the white streaks in the sky. At first I thought maybe it was an air show of some kind, but then I saw all the stuff from CNN. This is very sad indeed...

[Jedi Marksman]

At 200,000 feet it was not a terrorist attack. It's a risk just leaving the ground in a plane, let alone going into space. At over 12,000 MPH you can be sure no one survived. What a tragedy. hake:

[Pfc.Green]

Nasa has just lowered the flag next to its operation center to half-stalf thus officially mourning the loss of the astronauts.

[Sergeant_Scrotum]

i cant belive some idiots thought it was shot down by surface to air missiles hake: