SPACE CENTER WORKER CONSOLED AFTER COLUMBIA ACCIDENT, 2003-02-01 (photo)

An unidentified worker in the Vehicle Assembly Building (L) is consoled by security officer Susan Nelson after the space shuttle Columbia failed to return to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida February 1, 2003. NASA said it scrambled rescue units to search in Texas for the shuttle and its seven astronauts, which included the first Israeli astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramonan. NASA lost contact at around 9 a.m./1400 GMT, about 16 minutes before its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center. Columbia is NASA's oldest shuttle and first flew in 1981. REUTERS/Karl Ronstrom JLS/HK