Columbia Space Shuttle:

Disaster over Texan sky

Dilmika Tennakoon

It was February 1, 2003, a day much like today. A perfect sunny day for the Columbia Space Shuttle to return to earth. Everyone at NASA was excited. They knew the shuttle would bring back many important findings. No one suspected anything unusual. Space shuttle Columbia was launched on January 16, 2003. It was on a 16 day science research mission on Earth orbit.

The shuttle lost contact with NASA 16 minutes prior to its scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. Temperature sensors on the left wing of the shuttle had lost function. The silence continued. Finally during re-entry, the shuttle exploded over Texas, killing all seven crew members.

Final attempt

The NASA report reveals that when the first of many alarms sounded, the astronauts had about a minute left to live. But they were not aware of it. Before the shuttle exploded pilot William McCool was busy trying to control it as it tumbled out of control.

However Crewmembers did not think of their personal protection. Some were not wearing their protective gloves and had their helmet visors open. Some were not fully strapped in and one was not even seated. They tried their best to recover Columbia. There was no way of knowing it was impossible. Finally they lost consciousness due to rapid depressurization of the cockpit.

The shuttle suddenly started to change direction. Parts of the shuttle behind the crew compartment including its wings had fallen off.

All vehicle data was lost at 207,135 ft above the Earth when the Shuttle broke up over north central Texas. The last communication from Houston ground control to Columbia commander Rick Husband was:

"Columbia, here is Houston; we see your tyre pressure message and we did not copy your last message."

After a moment, Husband replied: "Roger but..."

After a brief crackling noise, contact was lost. Several white trails of smoke were seen from the shuttle as it split up.

Analysis

According to the final report of the Columbia Accident Investigation this tragedy was caused by technical and organizational failures. The report indicated that the space shuttle should not have been launched with these problems.

The report also revealed that the explosion of Columbia was a consequence of damage caused during takeoff. Few minutes after take off a large piece of insulation foam broke off and struck the shuttle's left wing. On re-entry, due to the damage caused by the strike, the wing was penetrated by superheated gases. This led the shuttle to disintegrate during re-entry.

Analysis also shows that the crew's personal safety equipment was not designed properly. The astronauts' shoulder harnesses failed and their helmets had not provided much protection. Traumatic injuries indicated lack of safety measures.

According to investigations there were problems with the shuttle's seats and parachute landing system. However NASA said even if the safety gear had been in perfect order, the astronauts would have died due to the winds, shock waves and other extreme conditions in the upper atmosphere.

In 1986 the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch killing all seven astronauts. Columbia was the second space shuttle NASA had lost. It was the first shuttle lost on landing. Investigators of both accidents pointed out that the ignorance of NASA later turned to a disaster.