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VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Mary Tillotson withthe VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Seven astronauts andthe Space Shuttle Columbia were lost in an accident February first.Today, we tell about the accident and the investigation that istrying to discover the cause. We also tell about the astronauts whowere killed.
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VOICE ONE:
Saturday morning, February first, was an exciting day at theKennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA officials, workers and familymembers of the seven astronauts on the Space Shuttle Columbia werewaiting to see the space vehicle land. The crew members hadperformed a successful sixteen-day science flight. They worked ontheir science experiments twenty-four hours a day while they were inorbit.
VOICE TWO:
In addition to Americans, people in two other countries followedthe flight with special interest. The people of India were proudlywatching this shuttle flight because Indian-born Kalpana Chawla wasa member of the crew.
The people of Israel watched their televisions for news aboutIlan Ramon, the first person from Israel to fly into space.
VOICE ONE:
At eight-fifteen in the morning, the Space Shuttle Columbia andits crew began flying down into Earth’s atmosphere. Forty-fiveminutes later, NASA lost all information and communication withColumbia.
The shuttle was flying six times faster then the speed of soundand sixty-two kilometers above the Earth. People in three statesreported hearing an extremely loud noise and seeing fire in the sky.
VOICE TWO:
A television cameraman in the state of Texas was waiting for theColumbia to pass over his area. He pointed his camera at the area ofthe sky were the shuttle would be seen.
The pictures he recorded showed abright light and a long trail of white smoke. Columbia was breakingapart. Within minutes, NASA confirmed that something was terriblywrong. Within an hour, it announced the Columbia and its crew hadbeen lost. Thousands of pieces of the shuttle were reported to havefallen in a huge area including parts of California, Arizona, Texasand Louisiana.
VOICE ONE:
Officials quickly began an investigation to find the cause ofthis terrible accident. NASA officials agreed that it might takeseveral months of study before a final answer would be known. SomeNASA experts first believed that the accident was linked to aproblem during launch.
They had seen material fall between the shuttle’s huge temporaryrocket and Columbia. The material hit part of Columbia’s wing.
VOICE TWO:
Scientists had studied pictures a day after the launch and haddecided that the damage was not severe and Columbia was not indanger. Information from early investigations into the Columbiaaccident said the damage caused by the material during launch mighthave been much greater than was first believed. The material mayhave damaged the heat resistant tiles that protect the shuttle.
The bottom areas of all of the shuttle spacecraft are coveredwith special tile material that can protect against extremely hightemperatures. The tiles protect against the intense heat caused bythe shuttle’s great speed when it re-enters the atmosphere.
VOICE ONE:
By the end of last week, NASA official Ron Dittemore saidrepeated investigations and tests showed that the material could nothave done enough damage to cause the shuttle to fail. He said NASAresearchers believe something else caused the accident. MisterDittemore said the investigation would continue until the cause ofthe accident is found and corrected.
Last Friday, NASA reported that a large piece of the shuttle’swing had been found. Officials said they hoped this part of the wingwould provide the evidence that would tell them what caused theaccident.
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VOICE TWO:
Last Tuesday, special aircraft flew the body remains of the sevenastronauts to the United States Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware.Experts used scientific methods to identify the bodies and preparethem for return to their families.
The seven astronauts were Shuttle Commander Rick Husband, PilotWillie McCool, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon and Mission SpecialistsMichael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark. Wewould like to tell you a little about these brave astronauts.
VOICE ONE:
Ilan Ramon was the first Israelito fly into space. For many weeks before the flight, newspapers,magazines and television broadcasts in Israel reported about him.School children brought in news stories to share with their class.Families gathered around the television to watch the latest reportabout Israel’s first astronaut. Ilan Ramon was a national hero. Hewas a colonel in the Israeli air force with more than four-thousandhours flying military aircraft. He was selected as an astronaut as aresult of a science agreement between the United States and Israelin nineteen-ninety-five.
VOICE TWO:
Shuttle Pilot William McCoolwas called Willie by his friends. He was an honor graduate of theUnited States Naval Academy and a navy test pilot. His friends saidWillie was born to fly. His father was a pilot. By the time theColumbia launched, he had flown more than twenty-four differentkinds of aircraft and had almost three-thousand hours of flighttime. The flight of Columbia was his first flight in space.
VOICE ONE:
Shuttle Commander Rick Husbandhad always wanted to be an astronaut. As a young child, he nevermissed watching the launch of the early American efforts to enterspace. Mister Husband was an experienced pilot and astronaut. He hada total of two-hundred-thirty-five hours in space and almostfour-thousand flying hours as a pilot and test pilot. He was theformer head of safety for NASA’s astronaut office. His friends sayhe worked many long, hard hours to prepare for the shuttle flight.
VOICE TWO:
Kalpana Chawla did not reallylook like an astronaut. She was a very small woman. But what shelacked in physical size she made up for in hard work and greatstrength. NASA selected her and nineteen other people from a groupof four-thousand people who wanted to fly in space. Mizz Chawla wasborn in Karnal, India, north of New Delhi. She had always wanted tofly from the time she was a child. She became a pilot, an aerospaceengineer and a valued member of NASA’s astronaut team.
The flight of Columbia was her second shuttle flight. She becamethe first Indian-born woman in space in nineteen-ninety seven.
VOICE ONE:
African-American pilot MichaelAnderson had always wanted to be an astronaut. As a child he knewthe names of every American astronaut. He watched the firstastronauts land on the moon and never forgot the excitement he felt.He became a military pilot in the Air Force and then asked to flywith NASA. He flew on the shuttle flight to the Mir space station innineteen-ninety-eight.
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Laurel Salton Clark was amedical doctor, a navy officer, a deep-sea diver and a parachutist.She worked as a doctor on submarines and military planes. Then shebecame an astronaut. Her brother said Doctor Clark saw only goals.And she was willing to do the hard work to reach those goals.
VOICE ONE:
David Brown was also a medicaldoctor, a pilot and a navy officer. As a young man he spent a yearworking as a circus performer. He applied three times to NASA beforehe was accepted as an astronaut. He also loved space. He would oftenfly his own aircraft to attend a meeting of a space club in the cityof Houston, Texas.
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VOICE TWO:
Humans have always explored. First they explored the land massesof our planet, then the oceans. In the past forty years people havetraveled into space. The men and women who do this are the explorersof our time. They will be the ones who will answer the questionsabout our universe and beyond.
All of the shuttle astronauts loved to fly in space. While he wasin orbit around the Earth, David Brown joked with friends at missioncontrol. He asked, “Do I really have to come back?”
President Bush spoke at a memorial service last week for theseven shuttle astronauts. He said each of the seven knew that takingrisks is necessary to complete great goals. He said “And each ofthem accepted those risks willingly, even joyfully, in the cause ofdiscovery.”
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. I’m SteveEmber.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Mary Tillotson. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS,a program in Special English on the Voice of America.