Welcome
to my
Nasa Page
In
Memory
of the crew
of the
Space Shuttle Columbia
February 1, 2003
Back Row: David M. Brown,
Laurel B. Clark, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon
Front Row: Rick D. Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William C. McCool
The Space Shuttle
Columbia and its seven astronauts were lost February 1, 2003,
when the vehicle broke up over north central Texas during its reentry from orbit.
Communications
were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST,
while the shuttle was traveling about 18 times the speed of sound at an altitude of
207,000 feet.
Columbia was 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center
when flight controllers at Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle.
Columbia was returning from a 16-day scientific research mission, its 28th flight,
which launched on January 16.
In
Memory
of the crew
of the
Space Shuttle Challenger
January 28, 1986
Back Row:
Ellison S. Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith A. Resnick
Front Row: Michael J. Smith, Francis Scobee, Ronald E. McNair
First Shuttle liftoff scheduled from Pad B. Launch set for 3:43 p.m.
EST,
Jan. 22, slipped to Jan. 23, then Jan. 24, due to delays in Mission 61-C.
Launch reset for Jan. 25 because of bad weather at transoceanic abort landing (TAL) site
in Dakar, Senegal.
To utilize Casablanca (not equipped for night landings) as alternate TAL site,
T-zero moved to morning liftoff time.
Launch postponed a day when launch processing unable to meet new morning liftoff time.
Prediction of unacceptable weather at KSC led to launch rescheduled for 9:37 a.m. EST,
Jan. 27.
Launch delayed 24 hours again when ground servicing equipment hatch-closing fixture
could not be removed from orbiter hatch.
Fixture sawed off and attaching bolt drilled out before closeout completed.
During delay, cross winds exceeded return-to-launch-site limits at KSC's Shuttle Landing
Facility.
Launch Jan. 28 delayed two hours when hardware interface module in launch processing
system,
which monitors fire detection system, failed during liquid hydrogen tanking procedures.
Explosion 73 seconds after liftoff claimed crew and vehicle.
Shuttle flights halted while extensive investigation into accident and assessment of
Shuttle program conducted.
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