Television broadcast video of the shuttle streaking at 12,500 miles per hour across the sky 40 miles above Dallas showed multiple vapor trails as the spacecraft appeared to break apart. Columbia, the oldest shuttle in the fleet of four, was to have landed at 9:16 a.m. Residents in southwestern and southcentral states - from California through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana - reported seeing and feeling an explosion. Seven astronauts aboard the shuttle were lost in the disaster. 1, 2003, as it descended from orbit into the atmosphere toward a landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. space shuttle Columbia broke up 203,000 feet over north central Texas about 9 a.m. Share this story on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. For the next four years, until the Shuttle fleet bowed out in 2011, the spaceships completed their missions without mishap. On 4 July 2006, the space Shuttle Endeavour, one of the three remaining Shuttles, blasted off from Cape Canaveral to complete a successful 13-day mission in space. The report was also highly critical of the culture within Nasa that ignored problems with the foam insulation and allowed shortcuts to be taken on other safety issues.Ĭolumbia grounded the remaining Space Shuttle fleet for three years. And while nothing could have been done to prevent their deaths – the depressurisation and extreme conditions were too much – the 400-page report suggested future spacecraft should be designed so that, when they do begin to break up in an accident, they experience the "most graceful degradation of vehicle systems and structure to enhance chances for crew survival". In 2008, a full review into the deaths of the crew ruled that they may have been aware for as long as 41 seconds that they were not in control of the ship. Don’t you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?'” If it has been damaged it’s probably better not to know. After one of the MMTs when possible damage to the orbiter was discussed, he gave me his opinion: 'You know, there is nothing we can do about damage to the TPS. “He knew more about shuttle entry than anybody the guidance, the navigation, the flight control, the thermal environments and how to control them. “He had spent his early career in shuttle entry analysis,” Hale writes. He says the decision taken by Jon Harpold, the director of mission operations, was that there was no point in telling the crew their concerns, because there was nothing the Columbia’s astronauts could do about it. But in his personal blog, former flight director Wayne Hale, who was assigned to the ill-fated mission, says that concerns about possible damage to the Thermal Protection System (TPS) had been flagged up. It turned out that the fateful collision between the insulation foam and the Shuttle had been noticed, but such incidents had occurred before without any cause for concern. Super-heated atmospheric gases forced their way into the Shuttle’s airframe through the hole in the wing, causing the Shuttle to destabilise and then disintegrate. These tiles were designed to withstand temperatures as high as 1,650C (3,000F) as the spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. As the spacecraft descended to Earth, travelling thousands of miles an hour, super-heated atmospheric gases rushed through the breach in the heat-resistant tiles. Only around 40% of the Shuttle has been recovered – the rest remains missing, 12 years later.īut what was recovered was enough to piece together the Shuttle’s final minutes. Pieces were recovered from Texas and the neighbouring states of Louisiana and Arkansas. Nasa then carried out the largest-ever ground search ever undertaken, to try and find pieces of the Shuttle. There was a chilling silence for some 20 minutes before the truth dawned 38 miles above Texas, the Shuttle had broken apart, and all seven crew were dead. Just before 0900 EST, as the Shuttle re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere 200,000 feet above the United States, Mission Control suddenly lost contact. The crew carried out the subsequent mission unaware their return to Earth was already doomed. A piece of foam insulation the size of a briefcase fell off the spacecraft’s external fuel tank, cracking some of the heat-resistant tiles on the Shuttle’s left wing. Their fate had been sealed 16 days before, when the Shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Now, they donned their pressure suits and prepared for a return to Earth. The crew of seven – five men and two women – had carried out some 80 experiments during their time in Earth’s orbit. On 1 February 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia began its descent back to Earth after a 16-day mission.
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