The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that the cause of the accident was a piece of insulating foam that broke off and struck a hole in the leading edge of the left wing less than two minutes into the flight.
The investigation into the cause of the break up cost over $400 million, involved more than 2,500 workers, and over 85,000 pieces of debris, equaling over 38% of the shuttle.
April 12-14, 1981 – STS-1 is the first space shuttle mission. The Columbia orbits Earth 37 times before landing.
The shuttle was called Columbia after the Columbia River which was named by boat captain Robert Gray in 1792.
The Crew of Mission STS 107:
Michael Anderson, Payload Commander – December 25, 1959-February 1, 2003 (age 43). Born in Plattsburg, New York (but considered Spokane, Washington his hometown), Anderson was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and logged over 211 hours in space during his first space flight aboard the Shuttle Endeavour. He was the third African-American astronaut to die in the line of duty. He is survived by wife, Sandra, and two children.
David Brown, Mission Specialist – April 16, 1956-February 1, 2003 (age 46). Born in Arlington, Virginia. Brown was a Captain in the U.S. Navy and a flight surgeon. He was selected for pilot training in 1988 and became a NASA astronaut in 1996. He had logged over 2,700 flight hours with 1,700 in high performance military aircraft.
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August 26, 2003 – The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases a report that says mistakes and organizational problems at NASA were partly to blame for the break-up of the shuttle. The report indicates that engineers recognized that when foam hit the shuttle’s wings upon lift-off, the shuttle was in possibly grave danger, but management failed to take the incident seriously enough.
January 3, 2004 – NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit lands on MARS. The back of the spacecraft bears a plaque with the names of the seven Columbia astronauts written on it. The landing area is named the Columbia Memorial Station.
February 1, 2008 – A fifth anniversary memorial ceremony for the STS-107 astronauts is scheduled to be aired live on NASA-TV.
December 30, 2008 – NASA releases a 400-page report that states that helmets that did not conform to the head, failed seat restraints, and the lack of upper body restraints played a major role in the deaths of shuttle astronauts before the ship disintegrated. The report goes on to state that even if procedures and equipment had worked perfectly, the astronauts might have lived longer and been able to take more actions, but they still would not have survived.
August 2, 2011 – The drought in Nacogdoches, Texas has caused the lakes to turn into mud puddles. Due to this drought, the tank that provides power and water for shuttle missions were discovered. This is part of the debris of the shuttle accident that occurred in 2003.
