NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
LEE COUNlY EDITION
Mostly sunny High: 68 Law: 50 Page 2B
A locally owned newspaper dedicated to the service of God and mankind. Tupelo, Mississippi
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1Yt.ER MORNING TELEGRAPH, DR. SCOTT LIEBERMAN
Space shuttle Columbia breaks up aver Texas; all seven astronauts killed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Space Shuttle Columbia crew, left to right, front row, Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William McCool, back row, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson and Israeli astronaut Jlan Ramon are shown in this crew photo.
While on its final glide to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Ra., the space shuttle· Columbia disintegrated 39 miles over Texas on Salllrday, killing all seven seven astronauts aboard.
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Suspicion immediately turns to left wing the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today," Bush said, his eyes glistening. "The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Eanh but we can pray they are safely home. " NASA began the painstaking process of finding the cause, appointing an independent commission to investigate. The agency said the first indication of trouble Saturday was the loss of temperature sensors in the left wing's hydraulic system. Tne spacecraft had just re-entered the atmosphere and had reached the point at which it was subjected to the highest temperatures. On takeoff Jan. 16, a flying piece of debris hit Columbias protective thermal tiles on the left wing; NASA officials said they suspected it was damaged, but fel\ there was no reason for concern. They cautioned that it may have had nothing to do with the accident.
BY MARCIA DUNN AND PAM FASION The Associated Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The space shuttle Columbia, shown during liftoff in this Jan. 16 photo.
INSIDE • Area residents shocked by Columbia explosion, Page SA. • What went wrong? NASA focuses probe on left wing, Page 18. • Perilous journeys into space had somehow become ordinary, Page 18 • Sports teams mourn astronauts, Page 4D.
LOCAL
Train derails in Saltillo • Rve Kansas City Southern Railway cars derailed early Saturday morning, causing a scare for residents and medical responders.
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pace shuttle Columbia disintegrated 39 miles over Texas on Saturday in a meteoric streak that rained smoking debris over hundreds of miles of countryside, killing all seven astronauts. Suspicion immediately turned to possible damage to the left wing during liftoff. The catastrophe occurred in the last 16 minutes of the 16-day mission as the spaceship glided in for a landing in Florida. ln its horror and in its backdrop of a crystal blue sky, the day echoed one almost exactly 17 years before , when the Challenger exploded. "The Columbia is lost," said President Bush, after he telephoned the families of the astronauts to console them. "The same creator who names
FAMILY & LEISURE - --
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. Security was extraordinarily tight on this mission because Han Ramon, Israels first astronaut, was among the crew members. Television footage showed a bright light followed by white smoke plumes streaking diagonally across the brilliant sky Debris appeared to break off into separate balls of light as it continued downward. "We saw it corning across the sky real bright and shiny and all in one piece. We thought it was the sun shining off an airplane," said Doug Ruby, who was driving with his father along a Texas THE ASSOCIATED PRESS highway, headed for a fishing trip. NASA security remove the space shuttle Columbia flag from "Then it broke up in about six the flagpole at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, pieces - they were all balls of fire Ra., after the space shuttle Columbia broke up over Texas Turn to SHUTILE on back page Saturday.
SPORTS ·
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All in the 4-H family [,.._,..,,,,. • ,Katy B.l}'Son has been ~ •, Tupelo's Citizen of the Year and Grandmother of the 4-H in Lee County. She shrugs off both titles, saying she just enjoys kids.
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Fabric in a new form
Ole Miss, State . lose on the road
• Jus.t because Lucky Star moved its blue jeans operations to Mexico that didn't mean the plant in Baldwyn would sit still.
• Both Mississippi State and Ole Miss took to the road in SEC play Saturday. Both lost close ballgames as Georgia came back to beat State and Vandy held off Ole Miss.
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Vol. 128 • No. 298 Business .................... 1F
Classlfled ....................lE Opinions ................ 48-58
Mowles ........ ................ 6C View 1V ..................... .lG
Obltuartes ..................4A Abby ........ .................... 7C Wellher ...................... 28
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