Posted on 02/01/2005 7:18:09 AM PST by Valin
The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster happend on Saturday 1st, February, 2003 and was the second Space Shuttle Disaster and the first shuttle lost on landing. There was shock around the world over the tragedy.
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Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on January 16th, 2003 at 9.39am CST. Columbia (Flight STS-107) was on a 16-day science research mission in Earth orbit which performed experiments in space.
It was the 113th mission. Columbia was the oldest space shuttle in the fleet of four. It was the first space shuttle to be launched in Earth orbit in 1981.
The crew of Space Shuttle Columbia consisted of 7 astronauts:
- Rick D. Husband - Commander - William C. McCool - Pilot - Michael P. Anderson - David M. Brown - Kalpana Chawla - Laurel Clark - Ilan Ramon - first Israeli in space
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Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Events
7-8 minutes before the failure, gauges started to loose readings in Columbia's left wing, left landing gear brake system and tyre.
7.59am (CST) temperature and pressure gauges went off scale.
8am - All vehicle data was lost at 207,135 ft above the Earth at Mach 18.3 (about 12,500 mph) when the Columbia Space Shuttle broke up over north-central Texas. It was about 16 minutes prior to its scheduled landing at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
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The last communication from Houston ground control to Columbia commander Rick Husband was:
"To Columbia, here is Houston; we see your tyre pressure messages and we did not copy your last message."
After a moment, Husband replied: "Roger but ..."
After a brief crackling noise, contact was lost. The Space Shuttle Columbia was scheduled to land 8.16am (2.16GMT).
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Several white trails of smoke were seen coming from shuttle as it split up.
Residents in North Texas heard a loud boom.
Video of Columbia's descent over Texas showed the shuttle breaking up upon reentry.
Initial reports were of small bits of debris spread in a wide area in Texas. Nasa advised people not to touch shuttle debris as the shuttle engines use highly toxic chemicals.
[AP SCOOP] Space Shuttle Columbia Will Be Visible In San Francisco Area (6AM Pacific)
Lot's of armchair engineers here... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/835531/posts?q=1&&page=1
Here is the Space.com tribute page.
This is a photo recovered from the wreckage. The STS-107 crewmembers strike a flying pose. From the left, bottom row, wearing red shirts, are astronauts Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon. From the left, top row, wearing blue shirts, are astronauts David Brown, William McCool and Michae Anderson.
Thanks for the links.
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