(February 8, 2003) -- LBReport.com readers were among the first have access to this picture released by NASA yesterday, showing the Space Shuttle Columbia roughly three minutes before it disintegrated, photographed at approximately 5:57 a.m. Pacific time on Feb. 1.

Photo source: NASA

The photo, posted on NASA's special Columbia web pages and linked to LBReport.com (accessible by clicking on Ski Demski's half-staff flag on our front page, www.lbreport.com), shows the underside of Columbia as it passed by the Starfire Optical Range, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, N. M. NASA received the image as part of its Columbia accident investigation and it is now being analyzed.

At a news briefing, Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore discounted press reports which interpreted the damage as premature.