KRNV:
Johnson Space Center, Houston-AP — It sounded like routine communication — but now it’s taken on a whole new meaning.
It’s believed to be the final radio communication between NASA and space shuttle “Columbia,” which broke up this morning on its way to landing. All seven astronauts on board are dead.
The communication message was heard shortly before nine a-m Eastern time.
It starts with a mission controller at the Johnson Space Center in Houston saying, “Columbia, Houston we see your tire pressure messages and we did not copy your last.”
A reply comes from an astronaut believed to be shuttle commander Rick Husband, who says “Roger.”
The transmission then breaks off after the crew member starts to say a word starting with the sound “buh.”