THE SHUTTLE

COLUMBIA DISASTER
 Shuttle Columbia Launch
The Columbias 28th space mission, designated STS-107, was originally
scheduled to launch on January 11, 2001, but was delayed numerous
times for a variety of reasons over nearly two years. Columbia finally
launched on January 16, 2003, with a crew of seven. Eighty seconds into
the launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the shuttles
propellant tank and hit the edge of the shuttles left wing.
Cameras focused on the launch sequence revealed the foam
collision but engineers could not pinpoint the location and extent
of the damage. Although similar incidents had occurred on three
prior shuttle launches without causing critical damage, some
engineers at the space agency believed that the damage to the
wing could cause a catastrophic failure. Their concerns were not
addressed in the two weeks that Columbia spent in orbit
because NASA management believed that even if major damage
had been caused, there was little that could be done to remedy
the situation.
 On Feb. 1, 2003, the shuttle made its usual landing
approach to the Kennedy Space Center. Just before 9 a.m.
EST, however, abnormal readings showed up at Mission
Control. They lost temperature readings from sensors
located on the left wing. Then, tire pressure readings from
the left side also vanished.
The Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, called up to
Columbia to discuss the tire pressure readings. At 8:59
a.m., Husband called back from Columbia: "Roger," followed
by a word that was cut off in mid-sentence.
At that point, Columbia was near Dallas, travelling 18 times
the speed of sound and still 200,700 feet (61,170 meters)
above the ground. Mission Control made several attempts
to get in touch with the astronauts, with no success.
It was later found that a hole on the left wing allowed
atmospheric gases to bleed into the shuttle as it went
through its fiery re-entry, leading to the loss of the sensors
and eventually, Columbia itself.
 Searching for debris
Twelve minutes later, when Columbia should have been making its final approach
to the runway, a mission controller received a phone call. The caller said a
television network was showing video of the shuttle breaking up in the sky.
Shortly afterward, NASA sent search and rescue teams to the suspected debris
sites in Texas and later, Louisiana. Later that day, NASA declared the astronauts
lost.
The search for debris took weeks, as it was shed over a field of some 2,000 square
miles in east Texas alone. NASA eventually recovered 84,000 pieces, representing
nearly 40 percent of Columbia. Among them were the crew remains, which were
identified with DNA
Much later, in 2008, NASA released a crew survival report detailing the Columbia
crew's last few minutes. The astronauts probably survived the initial breakup of
Columbia, but lost consciousness in seconds after the cabin lost pressure and then
died as it disintegrated