I think this may be the most heartbreaking reporting to come out of the Columbia disaster:
“The communication checks continue. So does the silence. A radar station near the Kennedy center then says it is putting its radar in a “search mode.”Space.com has this useful FAQ“We do not have any valid data at this time,” said Jones. He said there was a “blip” but it was bad data.
Then a long pause, a silence of despair. Then Cain says the final words, the phrase that marked the lack of hope: “Lock the doors.””
NASA’s official page on the disaster investigation.
The extraordinary image of Columbia, taken when she was still over 200,000 feet up, was taken using a hobbyist’s telescope and an 11 year-old Mac.