Teams from NASA left tonight for California and Arizona, following reports of finding the remains of the shuttle in these states. If it turns out that the parts found do belong to Columbia, the shuttle may have started to disintegrate earlier than expected
The search continues today in the area of the ferry crash. A cavalry team found a seat used by the shuttle's crew, and a syringe full of material, which was probably used in one of the experiments. The bow of the shuttle has not yet been removed from the area where it is. The sheriff of Nakodoshes said that today they will issue an arrest warrant for the person who tried to take some of the ferry's debris.
The chief rabbi of the IDF, Lt. Col. Israel Weiss, said that this morning more body parts were discovered in the Columbia shuttle disintegration area and they are now being examined. Rabbi Weiss noted that Lt. Col. Ilan Ramon has been identified with certainty and it will be possible to bring him to be buried in Israel. Therefore, his status has in fact been confirmed of Ilan Ramon as an IDF spaceman.
NASA representatives announced that the remains of Ramon's body were found at the crash site of the Space Shuttle Columbia in Texas. The remains of Ramon's body were identified among the body parts of four astronauts, which were discovered yesterday. It is still unclear who all the remains belong to, but NASA experts identified that the remains belong to four Different astronauts.
It was reported on the radio that NASA personnel identified Ramon's jawbone. The IDF's military rabbi, Brigadier General Israel Weiss, said that this morning more body parts were discovered in the crash area. According to him, the remains found are enough to bring Ramon to burial. In Texas and Louisiana The effort to collect all the fragments of the ferry continues.
Teams from NASA left tonight for California and Arizona, following reports of finding the remains of the shuttle in these states. If it turns out that the parts found do belong to Columbia, the shuttle may have started to break up earlier than expected.
NASA is re-examining the handling of warnings about the danger NASA has begun to redo the calculations regarding the detachment of a piece of insulating foam from the shuttle's fuel tank and its impact on the left wing, to make sure that the system of considerations was correct. The space agency fears that the malfunction resulted from a misjudgment in analyzing the detachment of the insulation foam and its consequences for the safety of the flight. Yesterday it was learned that one of the scientists warned, in a memo he sent two days before the landing date, that the damage to the left side of the shuttle is serious and that in such a situation it is impossible to make a safe landing of the shuttle.
Shuttle crash investigators are analyzing a photograph taken by an amateur astronomer, in which a flash of purple light can be seen hitting the spaceship above the California sky - the "San Francisco Chronicle" newspaper reported today. The photo was taken seven minutes before the spacecraft crashed. The photographer asked to remain anonymous and not reveal the photograph until it is examined by NASA experts.
