Columbia disaster

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart while re-entering the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven crew members on board. The disaster occurred minutes before Columbia was scheduled to land at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. An investigation later determined the catastrophe was caused by a problem that took place shortly after launch on January 16, when a piece of foam insulation broke off from the shuttle's propellant tank and damaged the edge of the shuttle's left wing. The Columbia disaster was the second major tragedy in the history of the space shuttle program after the space shuttle Challenger broke apart shortly after launch on January 28, 1986, and all seven astronauts on board perished.

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During the 30-year space shuttle program, 355 astronauts traveled aboard the shuttle. The program’s five shuttles (Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour) flew more than 542 million miles.

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Space Shuttle Columbia Launch: January 16, 2003

The Columbia’s 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 shuttle's propellant tank and hit the edge of the shuttle's 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.

Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster: February 1, 2003

Columbia re-entered the earth's atmosphere on the morning of February 1. It wasn't until 10 minutes later, at 8:53 a.m.--as the shuttle was 231,000 feet above the California coastline traveling at 23 times the speed of sound--that the first indications of trouble began. Because the heat-resistant tiles covering the left wing's leading edge had been damaged or were missing, wind and heat entered the wing and blew it apart.

The first debris began falling to the ground in West Texas near Lubbock at 8:58 a.m. One minute later, the last communication from the crew of five men and two women was heard, and at 9 a.m. the shuttle disintegrated over southeast Texas, near Dallas. Residents in the area heard a loud boom and saw streaks of smoke in the sky. Debris and the remains of the crew were found in more than 2,000 locations across East Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Making the tragedy even worse, two pilots aboard a search helicopter were killed in a crash while looking for debris. Strangely, worms the crew had used in a study and which were stored in a canister aboard the Columbia did survive.

Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster: The Investigation

In August 2003, an investigation board issued a report revealing that it would have been possible either for the Columbia crew to repair the damage to the wing or for the crew to be rescued from the shuttle. The Columbia could have stayed in orbit until February 15 and the already planned launch of the shuttle Atlantis could have been moved up as early as February 10, leaving a short window for repairing the wing or getting the crew off of the Columbia.

In the aftermath of the Columbia disaster, the space shuttle program was grounded until July 26, 2005, when the space shuttle Discovery was launched on the program’s 114th mission. In July 2011, the space shuttle program, which began with the Columbia’s first mission in 1981, completed its final (and 135th) mission, flown by Atlantis.

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Classroom Study Guides

  • Failure Is Not An Option (PDF)

    Curriculum guide to the program that tells the story of the men and women behind the space program.