Final Moments of The Space Shuttle Columbia’s Crew

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia met with a tragic end when it disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This was the second disaster of this caliber in the history of NASA’s space program, the first being the Challenger disaster in 1986. The seven-member crew of the Columbia, which included David M. Brown, Rick D. Husband, Laurel B. Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, William C. “Willie” McCool, and Ilan Ramon, had completed a successful research-based mission in outer space and were preparing to return to Earth when the shuttle broke apart. Despite their best efforts, the crew could not survive the catastrophic event and perished on their way back to the ground.

This disaster was caused by a small piece of insulation foam that came off and hit the left wing of the spacecraft during lift-off. Following the incident, NASA conducted a thorough investigation and released a 400-page report in 2008, which included 30 safety and procedural recommendations for future missions. Even though all of them were implemented, NASA decided to scrap the whole shuttle program in 2011.