A VICAR who has close links with NASA fired off a message of condolence to the space agency as soon as he learned of Saturday's shuttle disaster that claimed the lives of seven astronauts, reports Mike Addison.

The Rev Ken Clapham, of St Cuthbert's Parish Church, Over Kellet, is in regular contact with Houston via e-mail and, within minutes of the tragedy, the clergyman wrote a sympathetic message to say the prayers of those in the small north Lancashire village were with all those involved in the ill-fated Columbia mission.

He received a message back on Monday which read: "Thank-you for your kind words and sympathy. This is truly a dark and trying time for the whole NASA family but this group is resilient. We will bounce back. We will endure."

Mr Clapham asked members of his congregation on Sunday to continue to pray for those involved and for the three astronauts in the international space station still orbiting the earth. Children at the village's Wilson Endowed Church of England School also said prayers for the astronauts and their families during Monday morning assembly.

On Monday, Mr Clapham wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair suggesting that he raised with President Bush the need for a chaplain to minister to the space station astronauts mourning the loss of their colleagues.

Mr Clapham argued that hospitals, prisons and industry all had chaplains and said it would be appropriate at a time of a major disaster for a clergyman to be based on the space station. "I would love to go if I had the opportunity," said the man who has become firm friends with many involved in the space programme. "If they decided to appoint somebody,

I would certainly consider it. But they have yet to agree to appoint."

The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies over America as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere for a landing in Florida, scattering thousands of fragments over 6,400 square miles of eastern Texas and Louisiana.

Mr Clapham was responsible for successfully inviting Colonel James Irwin one of the moon astronauts on Apollo 15 to the school in 1987 and he returned in 1990, landing in a helicopter in the grounds. In 1994, General Charles Duke, another to walk on the moon and member of the Apollo 16 crew, visited the school after being invited by Mr Clapham.

February 7, 2003 10:00