![]() By 8:58 Columbia, still moving at incredible speeds, crossed from New Mexico into Texas, at which point it began shedding debris. At this point, the temperature of the damaged part of the wing was around 3,000☏ (1,650☌). Video shows flashes happening and an unusual trail left behind Columbia, which even hobbyist watchers saw as out of the ordinary. This loss of lift caused the Shuttle to turn away from its re-entry path, tumble, and break up from the drag of the air.Ĭolumbia passed over California at 8:53. This air was able to enter the wing through the hole made during launch, melting through it and causing the Shuttle to lose lift on that side. As Columbia entered the atmosphere, the air heated up around it due to the Shuttle moving at extreme speeds, over twenty times the speed of sound. A 13-minute video recorded in the cabin, ending eleven minutes before the loss of signal from Columbia, shows the astronauts in good spirits and unaware of the danger. At 8:15 EST, about an hour before Columbia was due to land, it lit its engines and changed its course so that it would re-enter the atmosphere. On February 1, Columbia prepared to return to Earth on a path that would take it over the USA from west to east. Viewed from a Dutch helicopter operating near Fort Hood, Texas. One flight director contacted Columbia about the concerns, but stressed "we have seen this same phenomenon on other flights and there is absolutely no concern for entry."įailed re-entry Ĭolumbia breaks apart in the atmosphere. NASA management thought that even if something were wrong, it would be better for the crew not to know since rescue or repair would be nearly impossible. Once high-quality video of the launch was ready, NASA reviewed it and concluded that everything was fine, and stopped engineers from using Department of Defense images from orbit to get a closer look. However, this debris strike hit Columbia's left wing head on, punching a hole through the panels on the wing's forward edge. Such debris strikes had happened before - in particular on STS-27 in which a piece of a booster's forward heat shield broke and hit Atlantis' bottom-side heat shield - and were seen as an acceptable risk. It was Columbia's 28th flight and the 113th of any Shuttle.Ĩ1 seconds into flight, a briefcase-sized part of the external fuel tank's foam insulation, which stops ice from forming while the very cold liquid fuel is in the tank, broke away and hit Columbia. Launch & response Ĭolumbia launched on its final mission on January 16, 2003. Mission Specialist: Laurel Blair Salton Clark, a U.S. ![]()
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