('The Columbia' crew)
On the 1st of February, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts – Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon and Mission Specialists Michael Anderson, Dave Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark – onboard. Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian woman in space while Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut.
Our group in this project is trying to collect as much
information as possible about this space tragedy to analyze and research and
provide our fellow students in RI and the rest of the world with detailed
information – possible reasons why the space shuttle broke apart during
re-entry, the shuttle’s purpose in going to space and the impacts this tragedy
might have on the space industry – which we have compiled from all the sources
we have found.
This shuttle mission lasted roughly 15 days, 22 hours and 20 minutes. Its purpose was to conduct space research and over 80 various experiments were conducted ranging from a mixed complement of competitively selected and commercially supported research in the space, life and physical sciences. The mission was named STS-107, STS standing for ‘Space Transportation System’, also known as the Space Shuttle and 107 being the ‘flight tail number’ or the 107th flight of the space shuttle. Its theme was Space Research and You as the STS-107 was a Shuttle mission dedicated to research investigating human physiology, fire suppressing and other areas of research relevant to people across the globe.
On the 1st of February the day the tragedy struck, the space shuttle was scheduled to land at 9:16 a.m. EST. however, communication and the tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST when the space shuttle was at an altitude of about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. At the time communications were lost. The shuttle was traveling tracking information were received in Mission Control after that time. At 9:29 a.m. EST it was confirmed that the Columbia broke apart above Texas killing all astronauts onboard the shuttle.
From the information our group has found, we have managed to find some of the possible reasons the shuttle broke apart. Here are the list of possible reasons:
1.A piece of foam insulation from the shuttle's external tank falling away during ascent and hitting the shuttle's left wing near its leading edge. This might have damage the shuttle's thermal tiles. The tiles are what protect the shuttle's during the fiery re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. As there was a section of damage to the shuttle's fragile body resulting in the breaking apart of the shuttle
2.As the shuttle was in orbit space debris or space junk that is debris that is found floating around space might have collided with the shuttle resulting yet again in damage to the shuttle's thermal tiles hence resulting in the breaking apart of the shuttle.
3.There might have been a technical fault onboard the shuttle leading to the malfunction of one of the machines onboard the shuttle leading to the breaking apart of the shuttle.
4.The shuttle's left landing gear door remained in place as a plume of super-heated air entering through a breach near the leading edge of the left wing wreaked havoc inside the wheel well. Then burned through seals around the left landing gear door.