Columbia

STS-107
16 January 2003 - 1 February 2003
15 Days, 22:20

Rick D. Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William C. McCool, David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon

Condolences, a collection of messages of condolences posted on the HabitableZone Space BBS.

"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

From Isaiah 40:26, as quoted by President Bush.

"It is today that we remember and honor the crews of Apollo 1 and Challenger. They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives and service to their country and for all mankind. Their dedication and devotion to the exploration of space was an inspiration to each of us, and still motivates people around the world to achieve great things and service to others."

Mission Cdr. Rick Husband's words of Jan 28, 2003, to begin a NASA-wide moment of silence at the precise anniversary time of the explosion of Challenger (STS 51-L)
(contributed by Fox)

Daily

August 26, 2003

Columbia Accident Investigate Board releases Volume I of its report.: (The version stored here has been augmented with a clickable table of contents)

9 February 2003

Radar Shows Material Coming off Columbia: "Defense Department radar shows an object or material coming off the shuttle Columbia as it orbited Earth about one day after its Jan. 16 launch from Florida, NASA officials confirmed late today..."(Washington Post)
Shuttle debris: (Houston Chronicle)
Space Shuttle Columbia Debris Falls to Earth Across Taxas, Louisiana: Photo gallery of found debris (Houston Chronicle)

8 February 2003

7 February 2003

USAF Imagery Confirms Columbia Wing Damaged (Aviation Week & Space Technology): "High-resolution images taken from a ground-based Air Force tracking camera in the southwestern U.S. show serious structural damage to the inboard leading edge of Columbia's left wing, as the crippled orbiter flew overhead about 60 sec. before the vehicle broke up..."
Report: Photos show Columbia wing damage (CNN)
StarFire Optical Range: Information about the camera that took the Columbia images.
Sensor Timeline: NASA released a 25-slide presentation that schematically plots sensor readings and sensors going offline in the final minutes of STS-107. This HabitableZone page provides a "flip book" view of the 25 slides that helps understand the progression of events.

5 February 2003

Researchers Assess Status of STS-107 Scientific Data (NASA)

3 February 2003

A Statement from the Families of Columbia (NASA)
Mission Control Center Status Report 21 (NASA)
Handle Space Shuttle Debris with Caution (NASA)

2 February 2003

Mission Control Center Status Report 20 (NASA)
NASA announces Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board (The Gehman Board) (NASA)

1 February 2003

Text of President Bush's statement on Columbia
Original Washington Post story filed before accident: Filed before the accident; contributed by Tom Brosz

Weather radar images over the crash site: Contributed by Tom Brosz, who had the presence of mind to look at weather radar displays of the area. Radar caught condensation trails left by Shuttle debris.
NASA's first official statement (NASA)
Administrator O'Keefe's initial press conference: and other videos
Administrator O'Keefe's Statement (NASA)
NASA asks for help with Columbia Investigation (NASA)
Mission Control Center Status Report 19 (NASA)

Resources

Columbia Mission Log: Summary of Columbia's 28 missions with links to more information at NASA and private Web sites.

Discussion

HabitableZone/Space

News

Florida Today
Houston Chronicle
NPR: NPR/All Things Considered: Interview with Astronauts Anderson and McCool (RealAudio)
MSNBC
Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log

SpaceRef.com

front page
Columbia coverage
STS-107 Post Launch Film Review - KSC Photo/Video Analysis Team: Video & PDF of post-launch report.

NASA

Investigation: Sensor timeline, FireStar image
Documents: Various NASA technical reports and papers relevant to Columbia, with an emphasis on Thermal Protection System issues.
spaceflight.nasa.gov Shuttle page
Shuttle press kit
STS-107 Investigation Reference Page

Kennedy Space Center

Columbia page

Images: Use the HabitableZone's enhanced KSC image viewer to browse the 312 STS-107 images in the KSC archive.
STS-107 Post Launch Film Review - KSC Photo/Video Analysis Team: (local copy obtained through SpaceRef.com)
STS-107 mission log: This is remarkable because it was posted within a few hours of the loss of Columbia. It closed out the log of Columbia's last flight with the status: "Loss of Vehicle and Crew".
(above link is a local copy; live page @KSC)
Videos: Preflight, launch, and Administrator O'Keefe's initial press conference

Dryden Flight Research Center

STS-1 (Columbia's first flight)
Columbia on 747 SCA
Dryden F-15B Supports Shuttle External Tank Insulation Tests: Press release describing tests of the new Shuttle External Tank foam insulation using an F-15B as a test bed.
F-15B Images: Images of the F-15B used as a testbed as described in the release at left. Images from this test are about halfway down the page.

Robert Shepherd