The Stars My Destination: The Columbia Disaster

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 18th Anniversary of S.T.S.-107
Eighteen years ago to the day, 1 February 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia OV-102, the first Space Shuttle Orbiter to fly in 1981, disintegrated during atmospheric re-entry, killing all seven of her crew: Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William McCool, Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, & Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. Husband, Chalwa, & Anderson had previously flown on the Space Shuttle; McCool, Brown, Clark, & Ramon were all on their maiden spaceflights; Ramon was also the first Israeli astronaut.

The Columbia suffered the ultimately fatal damage to her heat shielding during launch, a fortnight earlier on 16 January 2003: a piece of thermal insulating foam was shaken off the massive orange external fuel tank by the titanic forces involved in boosting as large a vehicle as a Space Shuttle into low earth orbit & struck the Columbia's left wing, compromising the composite-material heat shield. When the Columbia re-entered the atmosphere on 1 February, hot gases penetrated the wing, leading to the disintegration of the Shuttle & the deaths of all seven on board. The Space Shuttle Atlantis had suffered similar heat shield damage during the launch of S.T.S.-27 (1988), but by the grace of God had returned to earth safely, becoming the most-damaged Space Shuttle ever to make a successful landing.

The falling foam phenomenon was common enough to be known as "foam shedding" & had been observed on S.T.S.-7 (1983), S.T.S.-32 (1990), S.T.S.-50 (1992), S.T.S.-52 (1992), S.T.S.-62 (1994), & S.T.S.-112 (2002), but foam shedding was not perceived as posing a danger. Subsequent to the disaster, Space Shuttle missions launched without the foam, suffering no ill effects from its absence. The hideous irony is that the thermal insulation was on the external fuel tank to prevent the build up of ice that could be shaken loose during launch, striking & damaging the Shuttle.

The Space Shuttle Columbia suffered a catastrophic loss of structural integrity during re-entry, leading to the deaths of all seven aboard, 1 February 2003, eighteen years ago today.

Bonus! Song o' the Columbia Disaster
The Phenomenauts, "Heroes" from For All Mankind (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: "Heroes" is about the human cost of spaceflight, making implicit reference to the Apollo 1, Soyuz 1, Soyuz 11, Challenger, & Columbia disasters, as well as Gus Grissom's quote about the conquest of space being worth the risk of life.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Columbia Disaster
Wayback Machine '20
Wayback Machine '19
Wayback Machine '18
Wayback Machine '17
Wayback Machine '16

Commentary: The Columbia broke up during re-entry at 8:59 A.M. & this post would have been published then, except a new episode of "The Explorers' Club" was published last night, & by Secret Base convention after the publication of an "Explorers' Club" episode at 7:01 P.M. nothing else will be posted until 3:00 P.M. the following day at the earliest.