Then at 9:30am US time, NASA issued a stark statement.

THEY WERE JUST 16 MINUTES FROM HOME

THE world was in shock and mourning yesterday after the space shuttle Columbia blew up 16 minutes before landing, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

The spacecraft was travelling at 12,000mph, 200,000ft above the earth and with a re-entry temperature of 3,000°F when it began breaking up.

Suddenly the tail fin of the $1.2billion craft sheared off, and Columbia—on the 113th shuttle mission—was blown apart.

The explosion was so intense the boom could be heard by locals in northern Texas 37.87 MILES below. Luke Ward, mayor of Fairfax, said: "It was that loud it sounded like someone was trying to kick my back door in. It then continued to rumble for four or five minutes like a truck."

John Ferolito, 60, of Carrolton, Dallas, said: "It was like a car hitting the house. It shook us that much." British eyewitness Gillian Baxendale, 56, who lives in Dallas but is originally from Hertfordshire, said: "I heard an almighty bang. It was like thunder, but the earth shook. It was absolutely unbelievable."

Contact

Locals dashed outside as their windows rattled fearing they were about to be hit by a tornado. But then they looked up in horror to see at least three distinct vapour trails of debris—one larger than the rest—slowly snaking their way to earth.

The craft, mission STS-107, had been due to land at the Kennedy Space Centre, at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 2.16GMT—9.16am Eastern Standard Time. Disaster struck at 9.00 when, without warning, Mission Control dramatically lost radio contact. Fifteen minutes after the expected landing, and still with no trace of the shuttle, NASA announced search and rescue teams were being mobilised in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas of Texas.

Then at 9:30am US time, NASA issued a stark statement. It said simply: "The shuttle Columbia is lost."

Experts said the seven aboard, including the first Israeli astronaut and two women, would almost certainly have died instantly. It was the first time an American space crew had been killed as they returned home.

As news of the horror emerged, flight controllers at Mission Control at the Kennedy Space Centre stared blankly at their screens, fighting back tears. The wives and children of the astronauts, waiting to give a heroic welcome to their loved ones, were gently gathered together by officials and taken to a separate area to be told the grim news.

Soon, debris was reported to have been found in the university town of Nacogdoches, Texas. It was the first of HUNDREDS of sightings. By the end of the day, officials had found a 700-mile footprint of wreckage.

Among the pieces, was one of the shuttle's three rocket stabilisers found sticking out of the ground near Palestine, Texas. But despite the extent of the debris, incredibly there were NO reports of injuries or damage, although NASA did have to issue a warning telling people the remains could be hazardous.

President George W. Bush was informed of the disaster at Camp David, Maryland.

He immediately returned to the White House where he convened an emergency meeting. He was said to be "stunned." Later he personally telephoned a member of each of the victim's families. In a bleak and highly emotional TV address later he repeated NASA's words. "The Columbia is lost." he said. "There are no survivors."

He went on: "Our entire nation grieves. Mankind has led the way into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.

"In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. But further than we can see there is comfort and hope."

Prime Minister Tony Blair was told the horrifying news at Chequers. There was also profound shock in Israel, where newspapers had described the mission with pride—saying an Israeli was "touching the heavens".

One of the last contacts with the craft—built in 1981 and the oldest shuttle in the fleet—was with astronaut David Brown.

He jokingly asked Mission Control: "Do we really have to come back?" Shortly after a flight controller said: "You are go for the deorbit burn." The craft was then put on autopilot for the 30-minute re-entry. Disaster came 15 minutes later.

The dead are the Shuttle's commander, Rick Husband, 45, a father-of-two, Laurel Clark, 41, mother of an eight-year-old son, William McCool, 41, a father of three sons, Michael Anderson, 43, David Brown, 46, Kalpana Chawla, 42, and Ilan Ramon, 48, a colonel in Israel's air force and a father of four.

The 16-day mission, launched on January 16, had been beset by problems.

With an Israeli aboard, officials had always feared the craft could be a terrorist target.

But that theory was firmly dismissed last night. An expert told Fox News: "Given the shuttle had completed its mission and was so high, it is unlikely sabotage is a possibility."

There had also been a problem on launch day when a piece of insulating foam on the external fuel tank came off during liftoff.

It was believed to have struck the left wing of the shuttle. But Leroy Cain, the lead flight director at Mission Control, assured reporters any damage would be minor and pose no safety hazard.

Concern

There had also been concern about small cracks found in the main propulsion system of other craft in the shuttle fleet. Six tiny breaks had been detected in sister ships Atlantis and Discovery. But after checks, NO cracks were found on Columbia.

The crash was the first space disaster since shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff in 1986 killing all seven aboard.

Last Tuesday, Columbia's crew had paid tribute with a minute's silence on the anniversary of that disaster. In a moving speech, Commander Husband said: "They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives and service to their country and for all mankind. Their dedication and devotion to the exploration of space was an inspiration to each of us. Our thoughts and prayers go to their families."

All aboard Columbia were aware of the danger. Col Anderson said before the flight: "There are a million things that can go wrong. Even though we've gone to great pains to make it safe, there's the potential for something to go wrong."

There was concern too last night for the safety of three astronauts aboard the international space station. Americans Donald Pettit, Kenneth Bowersox and Russian Nikolai Budarin, in space since November, may have to use a Russian escape capsule if the disaster forces the grounding of all shuttle flights.