WRAP The last communications with Earth, various file of astronauts

(2 Feb 2003)
FILE - Kennedy Space Center, Florida
1. Wide of shuttle crew sitting together in casual clothes
2. Pan of shuttle crew
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kalpana Chawla, Indian astronaut:
"I think it's the nature of world economics at present, where there are extensive collaborations between partner countries to come up with better technologies and they do share these technologies with each other."
4. Shuttle crew suiting-up room
FILE - Kennedy Space Center, Florida
5. Astronaut Rick Husband, commander
6. Astronaut Willie McCool, pilot
7. Astronaut Laurel Clark, mission specialist
8. Astronaut Michael Anderson, payload commander
9. Astronaut Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist
10. Astronaut David Brown, mission specialist
11. Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, mission specialist
FILE - Kennedy Space Center, Florida
12. Various of shuttle crew getting ready
13. Various of crew walking together out to the launch pad
Cape Canaveral, Florida - 16 January 2003
14. Wide shot of the space shuttle
15. Close up of the space shuttle
16. Various of space shuttle launching
17. Various of space shuttle flying
FILE - Kennedy Space Center, Florida
18. Various of crew practicing landing inside shuttle cockpit mockup
Kennedy Space Center, Florida - 1 February 2003
19. Radar tracking graphic showing final approach
20. Wide of mission control
21. Mid of controller
22. Wide of mission control speaking to shuttle as follows:
Mission control: "Columbia, Houston, we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last."
Shuttle: "Roger that" followed by static
23. Mid of controller
24. Wide showing radar tracking graphic showing no movement, lost contact
STORYLINE:
Space shuttle Columbia disintegrated 39 miles over Texas on Saturday in a meteoric streak that rained smoking debris over hundreds of miles of countryside in at least two states.
All seven astronauts were lost, a tragedy that echoed the Challenger explosion almost exactly 17 years earlier.
The catastrophe occurred in the last 16 minutes of the 16-day mission, as the craft glided in for a landing in Florida.
The cause of the tragedy was not immediately known. An independent commission was appointed to investigate.
One potential focus: possible damage to Columbia's protective thermal tiles on the left wing from a flying piece of debris during liftoff. NASA said the first indication of trouble Saturday was the lost of temperature sensors in that wing's hydraulic system.
Authorities said there was no indication of terrorism; at 207,135 feet, the shuttle was out of range of any surface-to-air missile, one senior government official said.
Television footage showed a bright light followed by white smoke plumes streaking diagonally through the brilliant, blue sky. Debris appeared to break off into separate balls of light as it continued downward.
Columbia had been scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center at 9:16 a.m.
Shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said "there was no indication of any impending threats to the vehicle." Then there was a loss of data from temperature sensors on the left wing, followed by a loss of data from tire pressure indicators on the left main landing gear.
The final radio transmission between Mission Control and the shuttle, at 9 a.m., gave no indication of any trouble.
Mission Control radios: "Columbia, Houston, we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last."
Columbia's commander, Rick Husband, calmly responds: "Roger, buh ..."
For several seconds, the transmission goes silent.
Then, there is static.

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