The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster is a really important piece of history. It happened on February 1, 2003, when the Columbia exploded upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. It was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program after Challenger in 1986.
The mission designated STS-107 was Columbia's 28th flight. It was a multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission with a crew of seven astronauts. They conducted nearly 80 experiments studying Earth, space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
The disaster happened because of a piece of foam insulation that broke off from the Space Shuttle's external tank under the aerodynamic forces of launch. The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing damaging the Shuttle's thermal protection system which shields it from heat generated within the atmosphere.
Despite the impact being observed by engineers on the ground they didn't believe it posed a serious threat. The Shuttle continued its mission but during the reentry into Earth's atmosphere hot atmospheric gases entered and destroyed the internal wing structure causing the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.
After the disaster Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years similar to the aftermath of the Challenger disaster. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board was established by NASA to investigate the accident. The board concluded that the thermal protection system damage was the cause of the accident and they also criticized NASA's organizational ways and decision-making processes. The tragedy led to significant changes in the management and operation of the Space Shuttle program.
Do you think that they could have done anything to prevent this?
What could have been done for the people responsible for the system to fail?
Is this any different from what happened to The Challenger?
https://www.space.com/19436-columbia-disaster.html
Replies
Good topic choice Baleigh! I do think your summary could be simplified a bit. Lots of bif sciency words that arent easy to understand. Good job commenting! This was posted a day late.
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They should of done something about the damage in the Space Shuttle. The people should of called in on what happened from the damage of the wing. These 2 disaster are the same and there's not much differences between the 2.
I agree, that they deffifanly should have done something about it when they found out that something had broke. The fact that the damages being so similar definally should have rasied some red flages and concerns.
I think that this disaster could have been avoided. They should have taken more caution with something as dangerous as space travel. As soon and they noticed the malfunction they should have brought the shuttle back instead of assuming it would be fine.
I agree, they also should have done something considering this has happened before and they should have known something so small could still lead to something like this happeneing and should have took more precaustions.
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The issue was identified by engineers but wasn't deemed as a threat. I think ignorance to simple problems is what caused this crash and the life of 7 crew members. Because this was it's 28th flight, deteroration is possible and needs to be repaired after every trip. A faulty piece of this shuttle is very similar to the cause of the Challenger crash.
I agree, the issue could have easily been fixed but them being comfortable with it being their 28th flight also must have played a part. I also believe that they should have took a different ship maybe? Because I agree deteroration could have also played a very big part.