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When Columbia reentered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the orbiter to become unstable and break apart. It was the second Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the loss of Challenger and crew in 1986. Before reentry, NASA managers had limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed. 1, 2003, when NASA’s space shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned to Earth, killing the seven astronauts on board. On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. The agency’s plans called for up to 15 missions, including the first flight from the West Coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NACOGDOCHES, Texas ( KETK) It has been 20 years since the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over East Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board and forever bonding the Piney Woods to one of our space program’s darkest days. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous Space Shuttle launches, causing damage that ranged from minor to near-catastrophic, but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA History 35 Years Ago: Remembering Challenger and Her Crew The year 1986 was shaping up to be the most ambitious one yet for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. It was the second Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the Challenger disaster in 1986, which killed all seven crew members during ascent.ĭuring the STS-107 launch, a piece of the insulative foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's left wing. During the STS-107 mission, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board. space shuttle orbiter Columbia on February 1, 2003, that claimed the lives of all seven astronauts on board just minutes before it was to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The board has provided NASA with an important road map, as we determine when we will be ‘Fit to Fly’ again.The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a fatal accident in the United States Space Shuttle program which occurred on February 1, 2003. “We have accepted the findings and will comply with the recommendations to the best of our ability. “The findings and recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board will serve as NASA’s blueprint,” O’Keefe said. In a statement, the administrator said NASA was already following up on five preliminary recommendations released during the investigation, and the agency intended “to comply with the full range of recommendations” in the final report. Gehman said copies of the report were delivered in advance of Tuesday’s public release to the astronaut corps and families of the astronauts, to the White House and Congress, and to O’Keefe at NASA Headquarters. The board members spent almost seven months reviewing evidence, talking to engineers and conducting experiments that proved fast-flying foam could damage the heat shield on the wing of a space shuttle. The 13-member investigation board was announced by NASA within hours of the accident. Such insulation strikes had occurred on previous missions, and the report said NASA managers had come to view them as an acceptable abnormality that posed no safety risk. “These repeating patterns mean that flawed practices embedded in NASA’s organizational system continued for 20 years and made substantial contributions to both accidents,” the report said.ĭuring Columbia’s last mission, NASA managers missed opportunities to evaluate possible damage to the craft’s heat shield from a strike on the left wing by flying foam insulation. This was an “echo” of some root causes of the Challenger accident, the board said. As the Space Shuttle lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, a small portion of foam broke away from the orange external fuel tank and struck the orbiter's left wing. It said NASA mission managers fell into the habit of accepting as normal some flaws in the shuttle system and tended to ignore or not recognize that these problems could foreshadow catastrophe. Columbia and its crew were tragically lost during STS-107 in 2003. In addition to detailing the technical factors behind Columbia’s breakup, just minutes before its scheduled landing at the end of a 16-day science mission, the board’s report laid out the cultural factors behind NASA’s failings. “From my perspective, it certainly hits right on the money,” he said.
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