When did Columbia tear apart in reentry?
83390#56
The Space Shuttle "Challenger" Memorial was dedicated on May 20, 1986, in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on January 28, 1986. Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem "High Flight", which was quoted by then President Ronald Reagan when he addressed the disaster. Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two crew members, Scobee and Smith, are buried in Arlington. On February 1, 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe dedicated a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle "Columbia" broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003. Astronauts Laurel Clark, David Brown and Michael Anderson, who were killed in the "Columbia" disaster, are also buried in Arlington.
Arlington National Cemetery
2230989#32
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle "Columbia" was destroyed on reentry due to a failure of the TPS. The investigation team found and reported that the probable cause of the accident was that during launch, a piece of foam debris punctured an RCC panel on the left wing's leading edge and allowed hot gases from the reentry to enter the wing and disintegrate the wing from within, leading to eventual loss of control and breakup of the shuttle.
Space Shuttle thermal protection system
181049#3
"Columbia" landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base on 16 November 1982, at 6:33 am PST, having traveled 2 million miles in 81 orbits during a mission that lasted 5 days, 2 hours, 14 minutes and 26 seconds. "Columbia" was returned to KSC on 22 November 1982. STS-5 was the first shuttle flight in which the crew did not wear pressure suits for the launch, reentry, and landing portions of the flight, similar to the Soviet Voskhod and Soyuz missions prior to the ill-fated Soyuz 11 mission in 1971.
The shuttle was formally declared "operational" after STS-4. However, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), in its report on the loss with all crew aboard of "Columbia" during STS-107 in 2003, asserted that the orbiter should never have been considered operational and that, while not intrinsically unsafe, it was in fact an experimental vehicle. The CAIB's rationale was that civilian and military aircraft that are considered operational must have been tested and proven over thousands of safe flights in their final operational configurations, whereas the shuttle had conducted under 200 flights, with continuous modification. NASA operated the Space Shuttle as an experimental vehicle for the remainder of the program.
STS-5
177604#0
David McDowell Brown (April 16, 1956 – February 1, 2003) was a United States Navy captain and a NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle "Columbia" (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Brown became an astronaut in 1996, but had not served on a space mission prior to the "Columbia" disaster. Brown was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Brown, the 1986 recipient of the Navy Operational Flight Surgeon of the Year award, received numerous decorations including:
The symbol indicates a posthumous award.
David M. Brown
16421#17
On February 1, 2003, "Columbia" and her crew of seven were lost during re-entry over Texas during the STS-107 mission (the 113th shuttle flight); a vehicle breakup triggered by damage sustained during launch from Pad 39A on January 16, when a piece of foam insulation from the orbiter's external fuel tank struck the orbiter's left wing. During reentry, the damage created a hole allowing hot gases to melt the wing structure. Like the "Challenger" disaster, the resulting investigation and modifications interrupted shuttle flight operations at KSC for more than two years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005.
Kennedy Space Center
177533#1
An in-flight break up during reentry into the atmosphere on February 1 killed all seven crew members and disintegrated "Columbia". Immediately after the disaster, NASA convened the "Columbia" Accident Investigation Board to determine the cause of the disintegration. The source of the failure was determined to have been caused by a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system (reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles) on the leading edge of the orbiter's left wing. During re-entry the damaged wing slowly overheated and came apart, eventually leading to loss of control and disintegration of the vehicle. The cockpit window frame is now exhibited in a memorial inside the Space Shuttle "Atlantis" Pavilion at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
STS-107
32363#15
Ten seconds after retrofire, commands were sent to separate the Vostok service module from the reentry module (code name "little ball" ()), but the equipment module unexpectedly remained attached to the reentry module by a bundle of wires. At around 07:35 UT, the two parts of the spacecraft began reentry and went through strong gyrations as Vostok 1 neared Egypt. At this point the wires broke, the two modules separated, and the descent module settled into the proper reentry attitude. Gagarin telegraphed "Everything is OK" despite continuing gyrations; he later reported that he did not want to "make noise" as he had (correctly) reasoned that the gyrations did not endanger the mission (and were apparently caused by the spherical shape of the reentry module). As Gagarin continued his descent, he remained conscious as he experienced about 8 g during reentry. (Gagarin's own report states "over 10 g".)
Vostok 1
17854940#0
"Tearing Us Apart" is a song recorded by English blues rock guitarist and singer Eric Clapton on his 1986 album "August", produced by Phil Collins. The song was about "the committee", the group of Pattie Boyd's friends whom Clapton blamed for coming between Pattie and him. "Tearing Us Apart" was a duet with Tina Turner and was released as the second single from the album in mid-1987, following "Behind the Mask". The song did not chart on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, but was a minor hit in the UK. The song has been included on several setlists of Clapton's live performances in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s; performed by other female vocalists such as Katie Kissoon, Tessa Niles, Shaun Murphy, Tracy Ackerman, Sheryl Crow, Sharon White and Michelle John (since 2011). Clapton resurrected the song for his 11-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in May/June 2011 and his European/South American tours from February 14 to October 16.
Tearing Us Apart
12694582#0
Columbia: The Tragic Loss is a 2004 documentary film about the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died when the Columbia spacecraft disintegrated upon reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Two months after the disaster, Ramon's diary was found at one of the crash sites and was reconstructed by the Israel Museum along with Israeli police. Interviews with NASA officials and with Ilan's family offer both expert analysis of the flight and a personal look at the tragedy.
Columbia: The Tragic Loss
177541#20
"Columbia" was scheduled to land at 9:16 a.m. EST.
In 2008, NASA released a detailed report on survivability aspects of the "Columbia" reentry. The crew would have had less than a minute between the beginning of orbiter disintegration and depressurization. The structural failure of the left wing set off alarms in the cabin, although they had no way of knowing that the wing had broken apart as the rear of the orbiter could not be seen from the cabin. All evidence indicated that the crew frantically tried to regain control of "Columbia" as it began to spin out of control, but the loss of the left wing caused the orbiter to yaw to the right, exposing its underside to extreme aerodynamic forces and causing total structural disintegration. The crew cabin separated from the rest of the orbiter and rapidly depressurized, which would have killed or incapacitated the astronauts within seconds. Afterwards, the cabin spun around at high RPM, which caused the seat restraints on their upper bodies to fail. They were thus whipped around violently and pummeled by flying and falling objects from the disintegrating cabin, along with their heads and necks being slammed against the helmets, which were not designed to provide any head protection. Even if the cabin had remained structurally intact and reached a lower altitude where air could refill it, the high altitude depressurization would have been fatal to the astronauts unless they received medical attention within five minutes, approximately the amount of time it would take between cerebral hypoxia and brain death.
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster