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NASA releases e-mails demonstrating that a day before space shuttle Columbia's demise, engineers privately worried about the impact of tile damage sustained at launch. The e-mails explored prophetic "what-if" scenarios that concluded the orbiter could lose its left wing and break up high in the atmosphere. Hear NPR's Richard Harris.

The average rent in Orlando jumped by 21% from 2020 to 2021. Two theme parks are now devoting around 100 acres in hopes of easing the housing crisis.

NASA chief Sean O'Keefe tells Congress that while the shuttle fleet is grounded, the agency plans to keep the International Space Station running with the help of Russian spacecraft. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

It's estimated that hundreds of volunteer "human shields" are in Baghdad from the United States and elsewhere. They're placing themselves at installations in an effort to prevent U.S. bombing. NPR's Melissa Block talks to volunteer human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe, and to Paul Eliopolous, an American who became an involuntary shield when arrested by Iraqis in Kuwait in 1990.

The space shuttle Columbia disaster leaves Russia's space program with the responsibilty of maintaining the international space station while shuttle flights are grounded. Russia says it needs U.S. financial help to achieve that. NPR's Lawrence Sheets reports.

Hip-hop culture, with its street rhythms and explicit lyrics, is more relevant in advancing civil rights today than the peaceful messages of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., author Todd Boyd says. In an interview with NPR's Scott Simon, Boyd says hip hop artists use language as a political weapon that provokes and "makes people think." (Note: Contains language that some may consider offensive.)

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe faces tough questions on Capitol Hill during a hearing on the space agency's 2004 budget. Members of the House Science Committee also press O'Keefe for safety assurances following the loss earlier this month of the space shuttle Columbia. NPR's Eric Niiler reports.

Addressing members of a Washington think tank, President Bush outlines his vision for Iraq after Saddam Hussein's removal, and predicts that liberating Iraq could help create peace between Israelis and Palestinians. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Charis Conn, senior editor at Harper's Magazine about the history of the Harper's Index. Today marks its 19th anniversary.

Europe's Muslim population has doubled in the last decade, and an estimated 500,000 new immigrants -- most of them from Muslim nations -- arrive every year. In the third of a five-part series, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on a restive new generation of French-Muslim youths in the "high rise hells" outside Paris. See photos and learn more about each report in the series.