oh crap...
It looks like something very nasty happened to the space shuttle Columbia on its return from orbit.
BBC
Washington Post
Slashdot [Warning: crappy signal-to-noise ratio, including some tasteless "jokes", but I'm including it because the comments include some eye-witness stuff, and links to loads of other news sources]
Nasa lost contact at about 14:00 GMT, when Columbia was doing about 12,500mph at 200,000 feet near Dallas, Texas, on its way to a landing at Cape Canaveral. Eye witnesses report seeing a vapour trail, which split into several trails, and hearing a loud rumble or bang.
Obviously, the chances that any of the seven crew survived a high-speed vehicle disintegration 40 miles up are not good.
Given the presence of an Israeli astronaut on board, several people are speculating about terrorism. I think that's highly unlikely - there are no Surface-to-Air Missiles that I know of that could engage something that high and fast.
BBC
Washington Post
Slashdot [Warning: crappy signal-to-noise ratio, including some tasteless "jokes", but I'm including it because the comments include some eye-witness stuff, and links to loads of other news sources]
Nasa lost contact at about 14:00 GMT, when Columbia was doing about 12,500mph at 200,000 feet near Dallas, Texas, on its way to a landing at Cape Canaveral. Eye witnesses report seeing a vapour trail, which split into several trails, and hearing a loud rumble or bang.
Obviously, the chances that any of the seven crew survived a high-speed vehicle disintegration 40 miles up are not good.
Given the presence of an Israeli astronaut on board, several people are speculating about terrorism. I think that's highly unlikely - there are no Surface-to-Air Missiles that I know of that could engage something that high and fast.