They controlled entry into the craft.

ECONOMIST: Declining professions

The damaged panel allowed searing hot gases to seep into the wing on re-entry, causing the craft to lose control and disintegrate.

CNN: NASA, Texas towns mark Columbia disaster

The Moscow talks coincided with the deployment of a Soyuz craft to ferry a new crew to the ISS. The existing crew - two Americans and a Russian - had a dramatic re-entry that took their craft more than 400 kilometres (250 miles) beyond its intended landing site.

BBC: Mars rover (Nasa)