Nasa now saying (as reported by Dan Rather) that during re-entry, telemetry was first lost regarding systems and functions in the left wing. I would be very suprised if this was all coincidence but Im no rocket scientist.

I have no idea why the great one above could let trsgedies like this happen. You know it will be years before we truthfully know what really happened this morning. I am not anti-Government, but I dont think we will know for a while. I'm sure that they will take this into account with their other shuttles. The Columbia was over ten years old if I remember right. I think that this was the most used of all the shuttles, so imagine 10 years, lots of re entries around 12,000 mph.

God Bless the family and friends of the 7 astronauts.

Columbia went into service in 1981.

NASA will very likely not tell you anything/much for the next 12 months...

After the tragic crash on Jan 28 1986 it took them forever to find the real cause. (And: remember the Concorde crash? Took Air France 10 month to find the cause - and they had the plane to study - not burned Shuttle debris shattered over 100sqrmls).

There can be only 3 reasons for this tragedy:

A) Structural failure (doubtfull, as NASA triple checks everything)

B) Human error at re-entry (almost impossible, it's on auto pilot)

C) Damage of steering/telemetry (as Dan Rather reported) and/or damage of heat shield and maybe even the structure of the left wing. Either by ice or by debris of isolation at lift-off.

I was always amazed about the Shuttle technology. Over 25 years old and state of the art. But if something goes wrong...

Jan 28 1986:

115 Flights. All that re-entry heat is bound to weaken the metal.

What If...

http://www.israelinsider.com/channel...s/sec_0259.htm

"115 Flights. All that re-entry heat is bound to weaken the metal."

Not neccessarily:

The ceramic tiles are always fresh. And the structure is examined by radar before each flight.

NASA said the Shuttle is built for 100 missions. I think this was mission 28 for Columbia. The whole fleet flew I think 115 missions.

I haven't read the article but just looking at the link, it's sad but this day and time you have to consider things that make people uncomfortable. I know I've already had different scenerios running through my head on that subject.....and I hate that I have.

all the electronic systems on columbia were brand new this flight. This was the first time the new systems were used in a space flight.

it could be anythign at this point that caused this. Too early to tell.

Sure, it was Saddam!

Now that's finally a good reason for Bush to "flatten Iraq to a parking lot".

Come on, even Bush says this was NOT an act of terror.

The crew is checked (no terrorist there). The security was drastically increased by NASA.

There was no rocket (try to hit this thing going 12500mph in 200.000ft!). But sure, Saddam would manage this...

No, this tragedy happened at the most dangerous part of the mission: In the middle of re-entry, when the tiles are hottest. 8 more minutes and it would be out of danger.

Just read that. Amazing technology.

The shuttle was over 200,000 feet up, the only rocket that would be able to shoot it would be another shuttle.