SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA: THE DISASTER

 

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SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA: THE MISSION

STS-107 Mission Highlights:

Throughout the 16-day mission, the crew was involved in 24-hour science experiments.

More than 80 experiments flew aboard Columbia during STS-107, including investigations into life sciences, combustion research, material sciences and fluid physics. Most of the life science experiments included specimen samples that were lost in the accident, but many of the other experiment results were downlinked during the mission.

Among the scientific successes of STS-107 were the six experiments of the Space Technology and Research Students, or STARS, program. The student-designed experiments downlinked video and data to the researchers every day, and an estimated 70 percent of the scientific objectives were achieved.

SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA: THE DISASTER

The Columbia STS-107 mission lifted off on January 16, 2003, for a 17-day science mission featuring numerous microgravity experiments.

Upon reentering the atmosphere on February 1, 2003, the Columbia orbiter suffered a catastrophic failure due to a breach that occurred during launch when falling foam from the External Tank struck the Reinforced Carbon Carbon panels on the underside of the left wing.

The orbiter and its seven crew members were lost approximately 16 minutes before Columbia was scheduled to touch down at Kennedy Space Center.

MEMORIAL EVENTS

National Day of Remembrance
Thursday, Jan. 27
10 a.m.
Arlington National Cemetery, VA
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden & NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver lay a wreath.
National Day of Remembrance