"Washington Post": Experts previously warned that after cutting 40 percent of its budget, NASA cannot guarantee perfect execution; Body remains, a helmet and the symbol of the shuttle Columbia were discovered at the crash site
Avi Blizovsky
The crash of the space shuttle Columbia yesterday upon entering the Earth's atmosphere did not surprise some US government space experts. The "Washington Post" published today that space experts have previously expressed concern over the postponement of work to improve the safety of NASA's aging space shuttle fleet. Although safety has always been the watchword at the US space agency, space engineers have complained several times in the past that budget cuts have meant that Columbia and three other space shuttles have not received much-needed upgrades.
Last April, the chairman of the space safety advisory body, Richard Bloomberg, warned the American Congress that the way NASA's space project is being managed causes "extremely serious concern about safety issues." I have never been so concerned about the issue of safety in the space shuttles."
Although none of the scientists who warned of safety failures at NASA pointed to a concrete safety hazard that could have caused the shuttle to crash yesterday, for a long time they warned of the danger of putting safety at the top of the US space agency's priorities. According to them, after a 40 percent cut in the space program budget in the last decade, NASA can no longer guarantee perfect and error-free execution.
The search resumed at first light
There are increasing reports of body parts being found among the remains of the Columbia ferry. CNN reported this morning that in Hemphill in East Texas, the shuttle symbol and an astronaut's helmet were found alongside the remains of the bodies. None of the seven shuttle crew members, including the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, survived.
A local hospital employee, Mick Gibbs, reported finding a charred body part, a femur and a skull. Billy Smith, the coordinator of emergency operations in three counties in Texas, in whose territory the remains of the ferry that crashed yesterday were found, confirmed the find. The sheriff's office of a county in East Texas confirmed this morning that the remains of the shuttle crew members were also found in their county. A large part of the remains of the ferry fell into an artificial lake on the Texas-Louisiana border, and efforts to rescue them resumed at first light in the USA.
In East Texas, hundreds of fragments of the ferry are still scattered in an area of about 200 square kilometers in North Central Texas. For the purpose of the investigation, NASA is trying to collect all the parts of the shuttle that fell to the ground. One of the fragments hit a bank branch, causing damage. Police officers, civil servants and local authorities were sent to stand near the wreckage, until the arrival of NASA representatives and FBI agents. NASA has asked residents to stay away from the fragments, as some may be toxic.
President Bush declared a state of emergency in Texas and Louisiana, a declaration that allows federal authorities to assist local authorities in collecting the debris. Two astronauts were sent to the area to identify the fragments.
Following the Columbia crash, the US suspended all space flights. NASA said that the four astronauts on the International Space Station have supplies until June. The four, two Americans and two Russians, were supposed to return to Earth in the American space shuttle "Atlantis" in about a month.
A representative of the military rabbinate will go to Texas to identify Ramon's body
If no body parts are found, Ramon will be defined as a space whose burial place is unknown; Sharon: More Israeli astronauts will be launched into space; Ramon's relatives came to Houston to support the family; Arafat sent his condolences
By: Natan Gutman, Zachar Rotem and the agencies, voila news!
The IDF is about to send a representative of the military rabbinate to Texas, to help identify the body parts of the astronauts from the Columbia shuttle. A final decision on the matter will be made tonight. Apparently, a relatively senior officer will be dispatched, specializing in the issues of identifying the victims and their burial. The IDF has not yet announced the Israeli astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, as an IDF astronaut. If no body parts are found, the chief military rabbi is authorized to define Ramon as a space whose burial place is unknown.
This morning the cabinet meeting opened with a short ceremony to commemorate the disaster of the "Columbia" ferry crash. The Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said that the cooperation between Israel and the USA in the field of space will continue, and that more Israeli astronauts will be sent on exploration missions in space. Sharon noted that he did not get to know the astronaut Ilan Ramon, but he knew about his past as a daring pilot and an outstanding commander.
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The US ambassador to Israel, Dan Kartzer, participated in the cabinet meeting and said: The US and Israel share not only victories but also misfortune." According to him, Americans and Israelis are brothers in Israel and in space. The commander of the Air Force, Major General Dan Halutz, also participated in the meeting. The flags of Israel and the USA were lowered to half-mast this morning due to the mourning for the seven astronauts.
Israel sent condolences to the families of the astronauts, to the President of the United States and to the American people. President Bush spoke with Prime Minister Sharon last night and asked him to convey his condolences to the Ramon family and the people of Israel.
Beer Sheva: a street named after Ramon
At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, an impromptu vigil was set up during the night with flowers, candles and inscriptions in memory of the seven astronauts. The Israeli flag was also raised on the spot. NASA intends to hold an official memorial service this Tuesday, with the participation of the astronauts' families and friends.
Rona Ramon, the wife of astronaut Ilan Ramon, returned to Houston a few hours after the news of the disaster. Several members of her family arrived this morning from Israel to support her and her four children. Each of the astronauts' families was brought to Houston on a separate plane and each family is closely accompanied by a psychologist and the NASA support team. The Ramon family was accompanied by astronaut Steve McLean, who flew in Columbia 11 years ago. McLean was Ramon's "accompanying astronaut" throughout his training years and became a close friend of the family.
Israel's ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon, met Rona Ramon tonight and said afterwards that he was impressed that she was very strong. She told him about her last conversation with her husband, on Wednesday, when he told her how beautiful the universe was and how much he felt a part of it. "Now he will be part of this universe," said Ramon.
The Prime Minister spoke on the phone last night with Ramon's father, Eliezer Wolferman. According to Wolferman, Sharon told him that he shared his grief. Wolferman replied: "We didn't expect this, until the last moment we hoped it would go smoothly, and that's it, now we don't have Ilan, a big disaster happened to us." The president of the country and the commander of the air force also spoke with Wolferman last night. Many neighbors and acquaintances came to Wolferman's house in Omar.
In Israel they will work to commemorate the memory of the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon. In Be'er Sheva, where Ramon grew up and left after his enlistment, they intend to commemorate him by naming a street after him. The mayor, Ya'akov Turner, told "Haaretz" at the end of a ceremony at the Makif C school where Ramon studied, that the commemoration will be carried out "by naming a street, a square, or an institution in the city after Ramon".
"We are happy that she crashed"
The head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, yesterday sent his condolences to the families of the seven astronauts. The spokesman for the Authority and the Minister of Local Government, Saib Erekat, said that Arafat also conveyed a message of condolences to the President of the United States, George Bush.
In Baghdad, the first popular reaction to the ferry crash was completely different: this is God's revenge on the Americans, they said there. "We are happy that she crashed," said Abdel-Jaber al-Qureishi, a civil servant. "God wants to show that his power is greater than the power of the Americans. They are invading our land and God is taking our revenge."
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent condolences to President Bush. Blair also sent his condolences to Israel. And in India - where they mourned the loss of the astronaut, born there, Kalpana Chawla - Science Minister Murli Manohar Joshi said: "This is an irreplaceable loss. I share the sorrow of all my countrymen."
