India Mourns Astronaut Kalpana's Death

          NEW DELHI: Gloom descended on India on Sunday morning as the country mourned the death of India-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who was one of the seven crew members of the Columbia space shuttle which broke up while making a landing on Saturday. All dailies ran entire front page on Chawla and the ill-fated mission.

          Defence minister George Fernandes said on Sunday Columbia's loss is a "world tragedy." "I think it's a great tragedy and it's not just a tragedy for our country as we lost Kalpana Chawla but it's a tragedy for the whole world. All space research has its significance for the entire humanity. These excursions to the space are indirectly related to providing a better life in the times to come," Fernandes said.

          Aerospace engineer Chawla, a symbol of pride for Indians, was one of the seven-member crew aboard the shuttle that broke up as it was entering the earth's atmosphere after completing a 16-day mission. NASA later confirmed that there were no survivors. Thousands of people across India braved a cold winter's night to offer prayers and tributes to the seven-member crew as television channels started flashing news of the explosion at 7.30 pm local time on Saturday (1300 GMT).

           Kalpana's elder brother Sanjay told reporters outside his home in New Delhi that he first learnt of the disaster in a mobile text message from his wife, who was with family members in the United States to watch the shuttle landing. "I knew within my heart that something big had gone wrong. When you are in such a job then the family has to be ready for such news. I was talking to one of my friends and saying that if your child is in military or any other field then you also have to be prepared for such news. If it can happen to somebody else then it can happen to you also and this tragedy has fallen on us this time," said Sanjay.

          Ajay Malik, a class-mate of Kalpana, recalled Chawla once said she would go to the moon but nobody really believed she would ever get close to it. "Her target in life was to achieve something big. She always used to say that she will go to the moon and this dream of heroes came true also. We used to take it lightly. She went to the moon also (space mission) but when she went for the second time nobody knew that she will not be able to come back," said Malik.

           After graduating from Punjab Engineering College in 1982, she received her doctorate from the University of Colorado and joined NASA in 1988. The 41-year-old Chawla is a symbol of pride for the people of Karnal and millions of other Indians. She was the first India-born crew member of a US space mission and the country's second astronaut. The first, Rakesh Sharma, flew on a Soviet mission in 1984. On November 19,1997, Chawla took her first flight into space along with five astronauts that flew the Columbia Flight STS-87.

           Married and without children, Chawla, who became a US citizen, logged 376 hours in space as a mission specialist on her first flight. In January 1998, Chawla was assigned as crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment. This was her second mission.

Those Who Came to Celebrate, Sat in Shocked Silence (Go To Top)

          KARNAL: They had come together to celebrate. Instead, friends and relatives of India-born astronaut Kalpana Chawla wailed in grief or sat in shocked silence, boxes of party sweets lying unopened in a corner. Through Sunday morning, people streamed to the house where the aerospace engineer was born in Karnal in Haryana and where many had gathered for a party to mark her return from a mission aboard the Columbia space shuttle.

           The 41-year-old Chawla, a symbol of pride for the people of Karnal and millions of other Indians, was one of the seven crew aboard the Columbia killed when it broke up on re-entry. She was the first India-born crew member of a US space mission and the country's second astronaut. The first, Rakesh Sharma, flew on a Soviet mission in 1984.

           As India mourned, AN Mathur, Chief Secretary of Haryana, announced a two-day State mourning for the astronaut. "To honour her memory the State Government has decided to institute a gold medal to the girl who tops Class X examination in the State. The Government has also ordered that State mourning should be observed for two days in Haryana," he said.

          Earlier, present and past students, parents and well-wishers had gathered on Saturday at the Tagore Bal Niketan School in Karnal, where Chawla studied as a child, chanting prayers for the first India-born astronaut to fly on a US space mission. "There was a festive mood in the school, children were burning crackers, but as soon as we heard the news on television channels at 7.30 (evening) that space shuttle had lost control with the NASA, everybody was really shocked. We saw it on the TV ... there was mourning all over the world and happiness turned into mourning," said Rajan Lamba, Principal of Tagore School.

           In Chandigarh, where Kalpana had completed aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982, students remembered the grit and determimation with which she went on to follow her dreams. "When I came here the lab assistant here who had just retired remembered Kalpana Chawla and he told us about her work ethics and how dedicated she was and how single-minded she was in her dream and pursuit. And that was really an inspiration," said Rupali, a student.

NASA Suspends Space Flights (Go To Top)

          HOUSTON: Debris that struck the left wing of Columbia during take-off may have played a role in the space shuttle's break-up on Saturday, killing all seven astronauts aboard, a NASA director said. Human remains believed to be of the crew of the space shuttle have been found in Hemphill, Texas, police said. Meanwhile, NASA has halted all space shuttle flights pending an investigation into the Columbia disaster, as officials struggled to understand what went wrong.

           All seven astronauts on board were killed when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas early Saturday, just minutes before the scheduled landing of a vehicle that had performed "absolutely flawless" over a 16-day mission. NASA officials said it was far too early to say what caused the loss of Columbia, and that they did not know when shuttle flights would resume. "Right now there is certainly a hold on future flights until we get ourselves established and understand the root cause of this disaster," Shuttle Director Ron Dittemore told a press conference.

Probe into Columbia Disaster (Go To Top)

          NEW YORK: Shaken NASA officials have vowed to find out what caused the space shuttle Columbia to break-up over Texas on Saturday, saying they would look closely at the impact of a piece of foam insulation that struck the orbiter's left wing at take-off. The break-up, 16 minutes before the shuttle was due to land at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, spread possibly toxic debris over a wide swath of Texas and neighbouring States. Dramatic amateur video of the shuttle's descent clearly showed several white trails streaking through the blue skies after the shuttle suddenly flared and disintegrated. Rescue teams scrambled to search for the remains of the crew, which included the first Israeli to fly on the shuttle, former combat pilot Col. Ilan Ramon.

           The singular achievement of NASA during its early years involved the human exploration to the moon, project Apollo. Apollo became a NASA priority on May 25, 1961, when President John F Kennedy announced " I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out". "That's one samall step for man, one giant leap for mankind", Neil A Armstrong uttered these famous words on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 mission fulfilled Kennedy's challenges by successfully landing Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. It was the crowning glory in NASA's brief history.

           Seventeen years later when shuttle Challenger exploded about one minute into its ascent on January 28, 1986, the US space programme was not allied formally with others around the world and the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in its final years. No shuttles were launched for 32 months while the Challenger investigation proceeded. A presidential commission found the Challenger disaster was caused by a failure in the joint between the two lower segments of one of the right solid rocket motors. More recently the launch of the first upgraded European Ariane-5 rocket ended in disaster when it exploded soon after blast-off failure of an Ariane-5 rocket in its 14-mission history.

           There will be internal and independent investigations of what went wrong with Columbia, but officials in and outside the space agency discount questions raised on Saturday about the ageing shuttle's fitness to fly. First flown in 1981 and on its 28th mission, Columbia had a major overhaul and was back in flight last March. Columbia's demise leaves only three shuttles - Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour - and independent aviation consultant William Loh said NASA would build a fourth orbiter to fill the gap.

Ours Is a Better, Balanced Team: Sachin (Go To Top)

          DURBAN: Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar has played down the significance of India's match against Pakistan in Centurion on March 1, the first time the rivals will clash since the Asian Cup in 2000. "It's obviously going to be a big game, but from our team's point of view it's just another big game," Tendulkar told reporters on Sunday. "We have a better balanced side, and the players have been able to put things together when it mattered," Tendulkar said. "Our fitness levels have also improved a lot."

           Coach John Wright said, "The wickets have been very good in the net practices we've had here." India will play their first warm-up match against a Natal XI in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday. The opening match in the World Cup is between South Africa and West Indies in Cape Town on February 9.

Inflation Reaches 4.42 per cent (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: Inflation for the week ended January 18 reached a fiscal high of 4.42 per cent. The point-to-point price change, as measured by wholesale price index, rose by 0.50 per cent in the reported week from 3.72 per cent in the previous week. The index of all the major products groups rose to push the WPI up by 0.4 per cent to 167.9 from 167.3 in the previous week.

WHO Warns of Food Contamination by Terrorists (Go To Top)

          LONDON: The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged nations to strengthen their surveillance as terrorist groups could try to contaminate food supplies. In a special report, the leading UN health agency said that an attack using chemical or biological agents in food could lead to people dying or contracting serious illnesses like cancer. The agency said it had not received any specific warnings of such an attack, but it added that it viewed deliberate food contamination as "a real and current threat".

           The 45-page booklet entitled 'Terrorist Threats to Food' warns of the potential insertion of pesticides, viruses and parasites in food as "a way of deliberately harming civilian populations". It cites examples of intentional food attacks of the past, including a salmonella outbreak in the US State of Oregon, in which more than 750 people became ill, after members of a cult contaminated restaurant salad bars. The WHO director of food safety, Jurgen Schlundt, said that the booklet was not designed to alarm but rather to try to alert Governments to boost their surveillance and emergency response measures.

Beware! New Date Rape Drug Hits Sydney Night Clubs (Go To Top)

          SYDNEY: A night out for Sydney patry-goers could be much more dangerous than they ever thought. A colourless, tasteless and odourless date rape drug that erases the memory from just before it is administered has hit the city's social scene. Police and community groups are warning party-goers to watch their drinks closely after evidence that midazolam - a fast-acting hospital anti-anxiety agent with a trade name of Hypnovel - is being used increasingly to spike drinks.

          Director of Emergency Medicine at St Vincent's Hospital, Associate Professor Gordian Fulde, said that he had seen several cases of the drug being used in recent months. "It is a relatively newish drug, usually used in anaesthetic procedure. It is very fast-acting and very rapidly absorbed through mucous membranes. It blocks out your memory from even before you got it, so you go fuzzy and you don't remember anything", he was quoted by the News as saying. Other drugs, such as ecstasy and alcohol, may also be mixed with the drug, making it difficult to identify.

           Some women have reported waking up in a strange house, with their clothes strewn around the room, but no memory of anything that occurred the night before. Midazolam, which relaxes muscles and reduces anxiety before operations, is not available at pharmacies. The only way to obtain it is to steal it from hospitals. Because it is not classed as a schedule A drug it is not locked up. Police believe it is being sold on the black market.

-ANI