NASA controllers lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia around 1400 GMT (9:00am EST) somewhere over the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas – only 15 minutes before it was scheduled to land in Florida. The seven astronaut crew are feared lost as large chunks of debris have been seen raining over the area. NASA controllers had no warning that there was a problem, and are currently working to uncover what happened. So far, there is no suspicion of terrorism.
NASA is planning press conferences on Saturday to release more details.