The space shuttle Columbia, with seven astronauts aboard including the first Israeli in space, disappeared from radar screens on Saturday as it returned to Earth after a 16-day mission, Nasa said.
Images of the shuttle aired on CNN television show several white trails emanating from the shuttle, suggesting that the Columbia shuttle disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere 160km south of Dallas, Texas.
In north Texas, several residents reported hearing ”a big bang” at about 1400 GMT, the same time all radio and data communication with the shuttle and its crew of seven was lost.
Officials in Washington said that there was no immediate indication of terrorism, and that President George Bush was informed and awaiting more information from Nasa.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no threat made against the flight and that the shuttle, at an altitude of 62 100m when it lost contact, was out of range of a surface-to-air missile.
Just over an hour after the shuttle had been expected to land, officials at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre announced over loud speakers that a statement on the fate of the shuttle would be issued shortly. Nasa warned people on the ground in Texas to stay away from any fallen debris.
Inside Nasa’s Mission Control, flight controllers hovered in front of their computers, staring at the screens after contact was lost. The wives, husbands and children of the astronauts who had been waiting at the landing strip were gathered together by Nasa and taken to a secluded place.
”A contingency for the space shuttle has been declared,” Mission Control sombrely repeated over and over as no word or any data came from Columbia.
In 42 years of US human space flight, there had never been an accident during the descent to Earth or landing. On January 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff.
It was the 113th flight in the shuttle programme’s 22 years and the 28th flight for Columbia, Nasa’s oldest shuttle.
Shortly after Columbia lifted off on January 16, a piece of insulating foam on its external fuel tank came off and was believed to have hit the left wing of the shuttle.
Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, assured reporters on Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard.
Columbia had been aiming for a landing at 1416 GMT on Saturday.
It was at an altitude of 62 100m over north-central Texas at 1400 GMT, travelling at 20 112 km/h, when Mission Control lost all contact and tracking data.
Gary Hunziker in Plano, Texas, said he saw the shuttle flying overhead.
”I could see two bright objects flying off each side of it,” he told The Associated Press.
”I just assumed they were chase jets. The barn started shaking and we ran out and started looking around,” said Benjamin Laster of Kemp, Texas.
”I saw a puff of vapour and smoke and saw big chunk of material fall.”
Television footage showed a bright light followed by smoke plumes streaking diagonally through the sky. Debris appeared to break off into separate balls of light as it continued downward.
Security had been extraordinarily tight for Columbia’s 16-day scientific research mission because of the presence of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut.
Ramon (48) a colonel in Israel’s air force and former fighter pilot, had survived two wars.
Ramon, the son of an Auschwitz survivor, was Columbia’s payload specialist. He became the first man from his country to fly in space, and his presence resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia’s launch, but also for its planned landing.
Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target.
”The government of Israel and the people of Israel are praying together with the entire world for the safety of the astronauts on the shuttle Columbia,” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office said in a statement.
Columbia’s crew had completed 80-plus scientific research experiments during their time in orbit.
Only two of the seven astronauts had flown in space before, the shuttle’s commander Rick Husband and Kalpana Chawla.
Chawla (41) emigrated to United States from India in 1980s and became an astronaut in 1994.
The other five were rookies: pilot William McCool and Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Ramon.
Just in the past week, Nasa observed the anniversary of its only two other space tragedies, the Challenger explosion, which killed all seven astronauts on board, and the Apollo spacecraft fire that killed three on January 27, 1967. – Sapa-AP