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Today President Bush was called upon for the second time to comfort a nation in mourning. He telephoned the families of the lost astronauts and then addressed the nation from the cabinet room. (This is a repeat from earlier in the show.)

Florida Senator Bill Nelson flew on the last shuttle mission before the 1986 Challenger explosion and joins host Steve Inkseep to share his perspective as a former astronaut and Floridian.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports from Palmdale, Calif., where the space shuttle Columbia was upgraded in 2001. Palmdale is near Edwards Air Force Base, which was the original landing site during the space shuttle program's infancy. It is still the alternate landing site.

The investigation into the space shuttle Columbia disaster starts with a focus on a piece of foam insulation that fell off the shuttle's fuel tank and hit its left wing during launch. Columbia broke apart upon re-entry Saturday, killing all seven astronauts aboard. NPR's Joe Palca reports on the first stages of the probe.

Lt. Col. Dan Biggie, an Air Force chaplain, joins host Steve Inskeep from Cocoa Beach, Fla., where spectators had been waiting for the shuttle Columbia to land. He discusses the role of chaplains and how astronauts deal with the danger of their occupation. (This is a repeat from earlier in the show.)

Host Steve Inskeep reviews what is known so far about the Columbia disaster.

Satirists Bruce Kluger and David Slavin wonder if there's anything that new Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist cannot do.

South Korea offers to mediate the standoff between the United States and North Korea over North Korea's plan to restart a nuclear weapons program. South Korea has dispatched envoys to Russia and China in an effort to resolve the dispute through diplomacy. NPR's Eric Weiner reports.

A native of Indiana, John Poindexter went to the Naval Academy, became an admiral and went to work in the White House with the National Security Agency. He then became a central figure in the mid-1980s affair called Iran-Contra. That got him indicted and convicted of misleading Congress, but it did not end his government career. Today, John Poindexter is back, and NPR's Linda Wertheimer has this profile.

America West paves new ground in cost-cutting. The airline will serve food on flights -- from snacks to hot dinners -- but customers will have to pay for it. NPR's Janet Babin reports.

Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) announces his bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. Some ask whether he has the gravitas for the job. He's a self-made millionaire, a criminal defense lawyer and the first southerner to enter the race on the Democrats' side. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.

With North Carolina Sen. John Edwards announcing his plans to run for president in 2004, speculation about the Democratic primary steps up a notch. NPR Senior News Analyst Dan Schorr says the only real question at hand is who can raise the most money by the end of the year.

Stalker 3 is the title given to video of Russian troops being ambushed in Chechnya. It's being shown as art in a Manhattan gallery. The title is a play on the title of the Russian film classic, Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky. David D'Arcy reports.

Robert Siegel talks with Washington Post columnist and Brookings Institution Senior Fellow E.J. Dionne, and Weekly Standard senior editor David Brooks.

No one disputes that the Bush administration hates information leaks, and few doubt the current White House has stopped leaks better than its predecessors. But there's real disagreement about what that means, especially when it comes to keeping Congress in the dark as well as the media. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Robert Siegel and Lynn Neary read from some of this week's letters from listeners. Among this week's topics: our series on prayer, a report on water-efficient appliances and a religious sect's claim of human cloning.

NPR's Jackie Northam reports on the shuttle Columbia disaster's impact on America's contribution to the international space station.

NASA engineers and safety experts have continuously modified and upgraded the shuttle fleet over the years. The fleet has known weaknesses, and investigators will be looking very closely at these as they try to figure out what happened to Columbia as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere Feb. 1. NPR's Chris Joyce reports.

Congressional investigators testify before a Senate committee that using false identification, they entered the United States repeatedly from Canada, Mexico and Jamaica. And Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announces that customs, immigration and other border inspectors will be combined into one new bureau to improve efficiency. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

The Sundance Film Festival is going on through Saturday in Park City, Ut. Sundance has been widely credited with bringing independent films to mainstream audiences. Commentator Jake Tapper is in Park City this week, covering the festival for the Sundance Channel's nightly show. He says that one thing that distinguishes an independent film is that it is highly personal -- about the filmmaker's own revelation or catharsis. But just because an idea or subject is important to a filmmaker does not mean that the rest of the world will be moved by it.