Disintegrating Columbia captured on weather radar

When the space shuttle Columbia broke apart this morning 200,000 feet above Texas, the smoke and fine airborne debris are believed to have been captured on a National Weather Service radar image.

The animated radar loop shows a streak crossing the Texas-Louisiana border shortly after 9 a.m., when NASA lost contact with the shuttle just prior to a scheduled landing in Florida.

To see the image, please click here. (Be sure to scroll down. The streak is across the lower part of the radar image.)

The shuttle was carrying a crew of seven, none of whom survived.

Early reports of the tragedy raised the possibility of terrorism because one of the crew members, Ilan Ramon, was Israel's first astronaut.

But later in the day, Bush administration officials were saying it was 'highly unlikely' that the shuttle fell victim to a terrorist act because at an altitude of 200,000 feet it would have been beyond the range of terrorist weaponry. As this is not a local story, SooToday.com will not be providing ongoing coverage.

However, we've provided links below where you can access up-to-the-minute developments.

SooToday's breaking-news links

Jerusalem Post (fastest we've found anywhere, updates about every 10 min.) Space.com CNN.com Israeli Government backgrounders on first Israeli man in space NASA.gov White House