About These Profiles

Times staff writers Daren Briscoe, Bettina Boxall, Rich Connell, Cara Mia DiMassa, Robin Fields, Jessica Garrison, Megan Garvey, John Glionna, Christine Hanley, Kishan Putta, H.G. Reza, Nicholas Riccardi, Lee Romney, Tim Rutten, Beth Shuster, Doug Smith, Kurt Streeter, Rebecca Trounson and Paul Watson contributed to this report.

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ON THE WEB: See video clips of the space shuttle Columbia and reports from NASA at www.latimes.com/shuttle.