Shuttle crew's last minutes seen on video

A video found in the wreckage of space shuttle Columbia has provided a final glimpse of the astronauts before their spacecraft broke apart.

They are seen putting on their gloves and can be heard casually chatting, unaware of the impending disaster that was only moments away.

Nasa said the video holds nothing of investigative value, but it will allow the public to see the astronauts and the inside of the shuttle minutes before the first sign of trouble.

Nasa plans to release copies to the media sometime this week.

Thirteen minutes of tape were preserved, despite burning that destroyed the rest of it, an official said.

The tape shows four of the seven crew members doing routine tasks in the cockpit as the shuttle zoomed over the Pacific Ocean on February 1.

The tape ends four minutes after the start of Columbia’s atmospheric entry while the spaceship is still above the Pacific and flying normally.

The first indication of trouble shows up in temperature monitors in the left landing gear compartment another four minutes after the end of the tape, the official said.

Commander Rick Husband, co-pilot William McCool, flight engineer Kalpana Chawla, India’s first woman astronaut, and Laurel Clark were on the flight deck and reportedly caught on camera.

The three other astronauts were on the lower deck. The camera was mounted on the wall and moved by one of the crew so their voices can be heard clearly, the official said.

Neither the official nor a Nasa spokeswoman in Houston knew where, when or how the tape was found, but it was thought to have been recovered in Texas sometime during the past week.

Members of the board investigating the disaster knew about the video-tape for the last few days, but did not discuss it because they wanted to give Nasa time to show it to the astronauts’ families.

All seven astronauts died as the shuttle broke apart during re-entry on February 1. The investigative board suspects a breach in the left wing allowed superheated gases to penetrate Columbia.