10:14 AM
STS-107 DISASTER, Part II
(for Part I, 8:42 AM - 12:04 PM CST, click here to jump down)

(12:10 PM CST)
CNN reports that Fort Hood has launched a task force (currently four helicopters and rising) to help local authorities in a 24-hour "search and rescue" (read: find debris) operation. Given the scope of the area (judging by eyewitness reports and the NOAA radar evidence), it's going to be an big task.

(12:18 PM CST)
Press conference is underway. Early upshot is that after the loss of communications, there was little they could do but make sure they locked down and hung on to as much data as possible. CNN is 'kind' enough to be showing the explosion over and over on the majority of the screen, pushing NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe to one side.

No indications that anything from the ground had anything to do with the accident; investigation team is scrambling together from across the Johnson/Marshall/Kennedy Space Belt and will be headed by someone "external to the federal agencies". A touching personal statement by O'Keefe ("It started out as a pretty happy morning..."), and then he hands things over to three-time Shuttle pilot and now Human Space Flight Admin Bill Readdy (by the way--CNN is now showing the CBS scorch site footage, CBS bug and all). Readdy handles the procedural details for a bit before giving his own statement, also touching, and wrapping up with "My promise to the crew and the crew families is that the investigation we've just lauched will find the problem, fix it, and we'll move on." No questions until 3 PM EST.

(12:36 PM)
They just replayed the footage from Mission Control this morning at the time of the accident. The controllers were talking with the crew about the tire pressure on the shuttle and then....nothing. Heartbreaking.

If you were wondering about the three crew on the space station, you may not know that at one point the crew was actually supposed to be not three but seven. Here's a story on Sean O'Keefe's first visit to Capitol Hill a year ago when that decision was discussed.

The Times of India is now reporting the disaster, centering on Kalpana Chawla.

(12:46 PM)
A Metafilter user who works at an NBC affiliate reports "NBC (is) saying that all local syndication and sports specials have been cancelled for the entire day -- save for a "local early news" -- so that they can report. Just fyi in case you were hoping to catch x-games related stuff." (I mention it not because I thought you'd rather be hearing about the XGames--maybe you would, but to be honest, I don't care--but just because it's always interesting to me to hear how people handle crisis situations behind the scenes.)

Flight restrictions have been announced in a 60-mile radius around Fort Polk, Louisiana, with no planes allowed under 3000 feet. Strange that it would be centered on a military base, but accidents are capricious, I suppose.

The President will speak to the nation in a few minutes.

The STS-107 thread on Space.com shows a snapshot of the online community observing the accident in progress.

(1:06 PM)
"Our journey into space will go on." I'll keep an eye out for an online transcript of the President's speech. (UPDATE: here it is.)

For raw bulk of news, here's the Google News thread on the disaster.

(1:20 PM)
On Electrolite, Fort Worth native resident* Tim Kyger notes: "It was all brought home to me by one of those electronic highway signs asking anyone who sees a bit of Shuttle debris to call a number for the highway patrol/cops that was given..."

* Thanks to Patrick for correcting my imprecision.

Worst headline I've seen yet comes from the Pakistan News Service.

Saltire has a summary page up that provides a pair of highly-informed possible scenarios on what might have happened.

(1:35 PM)
Cory Doctorow provides a mirror of a Washington Post story that jumped the gun this morning, reporting a happier altternate world where the Shuttle landed safely.

Link-gathering is also occuring on Scott Adams' blog and on Scripting News.

(2:09 PM)
Well, bloggers and online bloviators have been waiting for this story, so some journalist at Reuters went and dug it up: "Iraqis Call Shuttle Disaster God's Vengeance".

There may not have been a hole in the side of that apartment building, but there's definitely a hole in the roof of a dentist's office in Nacogdoches--and that's not all:

"It's all over Nacogdoches," said James Milford, owner of a barber shop in downtown. "There are several little pieces, some parts of machinery ... there's been a lot of pieces about 3 feet wide."

(2:20 PM)
The text of the President's address is now online.