the launch of the space shuttle Columbia -- for the first time ever.

The American astronautical experts at Cooper's Island were demoted from the frontline when Columbia zoomed into orbit on Wednesday.

Station manager Bill Way said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration still planned to quit Bermuda within ten months.

He added: "This heralds the end of an era. We have been here for 37 years and supported every launch from Cape Canaveral.

"We are still tracking the space shuttle but for the first time we provided only telecommunications back-up and we weren't in the primary communications loop.

"This will probably happen two or three more times while the station is slowly phased out.'' As part of the lift-off, the shuttle did a 180-degree flip at more than 8,300 mph, or 13 times the speed of sound.

The flip was designed to put the shuttle in radio contact with communication satellites instead of Bermuda.

During the 40-minute roll, there was no contact between Columbia and Mission Control -- which experts predicted. Mr. Way said launch data from the shuttle was beamed to a tracking relay satellite 23,000 miles above the equator.

That information was transmitted to the White Sands tracking station in New Mexico and then on to Houston.

He added: "We weren't involved for the crucial first seven minutes for the first time.

"Previously, we had been the main telecommunications link for the launch. Now we've only got a secondary function.

"But at least we're involved in some ways.'' The current space shuttle mission will last 16 days and Bermuda-based NASA staff will monitor the flight every 90 minutes.

The station's staff has already been cut from 48 to 46 and more people are expected to leave in the next few months.