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It appears OV-102 (Columbia) broke up upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere at well over 100,000 feet over North Texas. Reports are coming in (unconfirmed) of pieces of the Orbiter coming down over NE Texas near Palestine and SE Oklahoma. NASA instructing people not to touch any wreckage because of the possiblility of hazardous material. (The steering rockets of the orbiter carry highly corrosive and hypergolic (which literally explode when mixed) fuels. (Nitrogen tetroxide (oxidizer) and monomethyl hydrazine (fuel).)
If we die, we want people to accept it. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. -- Lt. Col. Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, at a press conference before the Apollo 1 fire in 1967.
My prayers to the families of the astronauts at this tragic time.
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ASF
Causa latet vis est notissima - the cause is hidden, the results are well known.
Alpha Alpha (University of Oklahoma) Chapter, #814, 1984
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