BBC melaporkan:
«The American space agency Nasa says it lost communication with the space shuttle Columbia about 15 minutes before it was due to land at the Kennedy space centre in Florida. It was not immediately clear what had happened to the shuttle. The shuttle’s landing was overdue. It had been scheduled to arrive at the the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 0916 (1416 GMT, 40 menit yang lalu –Koen). Nasa has declared an emergency and there are reports that search and rescue teams have been mobilised. According to Nasa, the shuttle was about 200,000 feet up and travelling at 12,500 mph when contact was lost over north-east Texas. Although Nasa did not say what had happened to the shuttle, it warned that any debris found in the area should be avoided and could be hazardous.»