VIDEO: 14th Anniversary of Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
By Space Coast Daily // February 1, 2017
ABOVE VIDEO: Space Documentary 2015 Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster
(NASA) – At 8:59 am Eastern Time on February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry over the skies of east Texas killing the crew of STS-107.
They were returning from a 16 day science mission and were just 16 minutes from scheduled touchdown at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
A seven month long investigation into the accident revealed that a piece of light-weight insulating foam had punctured the Reinforced Carbon Carbon thermal shield on the left wing of Shuttle Columbia during launch on January 16.
The breach in the thermal protection system led to catastrophic failure of Columbia at approximately 200,000 feet altitude and a speed of Mach 18.
Remembering the 7 astronauts lost aboard Columbia 14 years ago today. They were brave explorers and really good people. pic.twitter.com/2yIQPGcuNG
— Mark Kelly (@ShuttleCDRKelly) February 1, 2017
