UPDATE: 12/21/2003

After once again closely scrutinizing the transcript of verbal communications during reentry that has been carefully reconstructed in the document, STS-107_Reentry_Text_J.pdf, a fact not previously noticed is a complete lack of voice communication between the shuttle crew and Mission Control Houston after 13:47:32 (EI+203).  Although Mission Control personnel are buzzing with the many strange and random anomalous events that begin some time after 13:51:00, there are no conversations with the crew about the failures.  The transcript contains some verbal ques from Mission Control personnel that may be attempts the contact the crew, but with the exception of Commander Rick Husbands two different moments when he is able to broadcast some cryptic syllables such as, "Bu" or "Uh", the loss of verbal communication continues to the end.

The STS-107 GTrack Rev 15.pdf and STS-107-Timeline-Rev15.xls documents only list brief communication blackouts that result in loss of data but do not indicate a total loss of air to ground verbal communication.  An interesting note is that 13:47:32 is also the exact time that Laurel Clark's camcorder failed marking the end of the crew cabin video released by NASA.  Because the camcorder failed completely at the exact same time that verbal communications were lost, the two events may be related.

07/23/2004

Many people have written in claiming that besides the two times that Rick Husband was able to send those very brief messages to Mission Control after 13:47:32 he can clearly be heard saying, "Feeling that heat Mission Control", at about 13:48:00.  To my knowledge this was never part of the transcript.  When William Harwood, the creator of the transcript STS-107_Reentry_Text_J.pdf, was questioned about any additional voice communications besides what he put in the document his response was as follows.

There were no other transmissions from the crew beyond what you see in my transcript or in NASA's version.  All ascent/entry air-to-ground traffic is broadcast in the open (even during classified military missions) and if there had been something else, we'd have all heard it.  I don't have any doubt about that at all.

Just FYI, something like this came up after Challenger, i.e., rumors of on-board recordings that went beyond the official ICOM transcript.  Those stories were equally bogus, in my opinion.

William Harwood
CBS News