Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Facts: All You Need To Know

• Space Shuttle Columbia’s (STS-107) disaster was a deadly incident that occurred on February 1, 2003, and took the lives of seven crew members who hardly survived less than a minute on board. The shuttle was flying over Texas and Louisiana. 
• NASA explains the circumstantial reason behind the incident, foam from the shuttle’s external tank fell off, causing a hole in the left wing and while returning to Earth the shuttle broke up in the air.  

How did the space shuttle Columbia explode?

• The explosion occurred due to a damaged left wing of the space shuttle which had a hole in it, caused by a piece of polyurethane Foam (avoids any type of ice freezing on the tank).
• Polyurethane foam was applied to an external fuel tank which had liquid hydrogen and oxygen in it. A six-to-ten-inch-diameter piece of this foam fell off the external tank and created a hole in the shuttle’s left wing.
• Unaware of the damage, the astronauts headed back to Earth atmosphere. The wing hole came into action and penetrated with the heat shield, ending up destroying the wing’s internal structure. This damage induced the shuttle to become unstable and explode.

Cause of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster?

• A hole in the left wing of the spacecraft triggered by a piece of polyurethane foam (avoids any type of ice freezing on the tank) was a major cause for the shuttle to explode. The entire crew encountered the loss of temperature sensors and hydraulic systems as the first sign of disintegration.

Why did the space shuttle Columbia explode?

• The Space Shuttle exploded due to basic ethical issues which should be kept in mind and prioritised by the management but unfortunately, STS-107 was not lucky enough.

Space shuttle Columbia disaster ethical issues?

• Professional Responsibility:
  • It is the professional responsibility of design engineers to create a professional and flawless design. But unfortunately, the major reason for the disaster was its design in this spacecraft.
• Effective Communication:
  • Effective communication should be established between the management and engineers. But it was also not done by the engineers on the board.
• Flight Plan Schedule vs Safety Concerns:
  • It is observed that the management of NASA was more interested in being on time than astronauts’ safety.
• Apparent Unsafe Launch Conditions:
  • It is better to be safe than sorry. And for that shuttle should be checked properly based on as low as the condition could be but it seems like it was not prioritized by the team NASA during this flight
• Reliance on Emergency Safety Controls:
  • Since it is necessary to always keep a backup during such major flights, but it seems like it was assumed that any failure won’t cause any issue.
  • However, the backups were placed in STS-107 as secondary components and not as primary components. This might be a reason for astronauts to die on the spot as they were not able to approach the backup emergency safety controls to save their lives immediately. 
• Ignorance of Known Design Faults:  
  • This is not the first time that such a type of disaster occurred and even due to the same reason, still, NASA didn’t give much importance to the design flaws which became a potential for disaster.

When did the space shuttle Columbia explode?

• The Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on the 1st of February, 2003.

Space shuttle Columbia crew names?

Who died in the space shuttle Columbia disaster?

• STS-107 took its flight to space with seven crew members on board. They died after surviving less than a minute. Seven crew members include a pilot, a commander, a payload commander, and four mission specialists.

Did the space shuttle Columbia crew die instantly?

• Not instantly but yes they lost consciousness in less than a minute and never came back.
• The 5 stages of survivability aspect encountered by crew members:
  • Depressurization.
  • Off-nominal dynamic G environment.
  • Separation of the bodies from the crew module and the seats.  
  • Exposure to high speed and high-altitude environments.
  • Ground Impact. 

How did the Columbia crew die?

• Depressurization on the board led crew members to lose their control on the board. Soon all of them lost their consciousness and suffered pulmonary barotrauma, cessation of respiration, and ebullism.
• The upper body of the shuttle got separated from the lower body within 41 seconds after losing control, leading all the crew members to death. Since the crew was exposed to the hostile aerodynamic and thermal environment of the Earth’s atmosphere, it destroyed crew suits because of the thermal environment pressure during the breakage of the shuttle.
• Crew module disintegration caused by the immense pressure on the shuttle left the crew members, receiving lethal trauma from their seat restraints.  

Were the bodies of Columbia Astronauts recovered?

• NASA omitted a few graphic details in the recovery of remains, but witnesses say that they found body parts such as a human heart, parts of femur bones, a skull, and a portion of an upper torso. Their bodies had lethal-level injuries due to ground and other impacts imposed on their bodies in the air.

Space shuttle Columbia disaster date

• The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on the 1st of February, 2003. It’s been 18 years since this disaster happened.

Space shuttle Columbia crash site

• The shuttle was flying 39 miles above Texas, at 18 times the speed of sound, since the disaster occurred. The debris was shed over several miles from Texas to Western Louisiana.

What year did the Space Shuttle Columbia explode?

• The year of the explosion of Space Shuttle Columbia was 2003.

Space shuttle Columbia debris field

• As the debris was shed in the zone of around 2000 square miles (over the wide fields of eastern Texas, southwestern countries of Arkansas and western Louisiana), it took weeks to search for it.
• NASA did the recovery of approximately 84,000 pieces and within the debris, they came across crew remains which they identified through DNA analysis.