A piece of insulating foam broke off the external tank during launch on January

Featured Event 2003 Event

Columbia Breaks Apart: Seven Astronauts Die in Reentry

A piece of insulating foam broke off the external tank during launch on January 16, 2003, and struck the leading edge of Columbia's left wing, punching a hole in the reinforced carbon-carbon panels that protected the shuttle during reentry. Mission Control knew about the foam strike but managers dismissed engineers' concerns, concluding that foam impacts had occurred on previous flights without catastrophic consequences. Sixteen days later, superheated plasma entered the wing during reentry at Mach 18, destroying the internal structure. Columbia broke apart over Texas at 9:00 AM on February 1, 2003, killing all seven crew members. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that NASA's organizational culture was as much to blame as the physical foam strike, finding that dissenting safety opinions were systematically suppressed by management hierarchies. The disaster accelerated the retirement of the entire shuttle fleet.

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February 1, 2003

23 years ago

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Columbia Breaks Apart: Seven Astronauts Die in Reentry

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