Space shuttle breaks up

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Just caught this on /.: Columbia shuttle breaks up over Texas with seven astronauts onboard. There is no hope that they could have survived. It's the biggest space accident since the explosion of Challenger on January 28, 1986. Columbia was the oldest of NASA's shuttle fleet. It first launched in 1981 and was on its 28th mission. Space shuttles have a life time of 100 missions. CNN reports that its age (22 years) may have played a role in the accident.