Dark5 | 5 Worst Nightmare Space Missions @dark5tv | Uploaded 2 years ago | Updated 1 day ago
On February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle was making its usual approach to the Kennedy Space Center after a successful two-week mission, but shortly before 9:00am, abnormal readings in Mission Control indicated that something was wrong. Seconds later, the spacecraft broke apart in the sky.
Columbia’s first flight took place in April of 1981, the first space shuttle to fly in space, and it completed 27 successful missions in total.
On January 16, 2003, the shuttle took off for its 28th endeavor and was tasked with research activities in a routine assignment.
However, the first problems arose merely 82 seconds after the spacecraft left the ground when a piece of foam detached from the external tank structure and pierced the left wing. A later investigation determined that NASA was aware of the incident from the beginning.
Several people within the agency demanded to review imagery of the breached wing -now in orbit- to assess the damage and the risk, and even the Department of Defense was ready to employ its orbital spy cameras to look closer. But according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, NASA officials in charge of the program dismissed the offers and warnings.
The landing then proceeded without further inspection, and when the spacecraft was flying over Dallas at 200,000 feet and 18 times the speed of sound, all communications with the crew were lost, and the readings from the shuttle vanished.
Minutes later, Mission Control received a call: a television network was broadcasting the spacecraft as it disintegrated in the air. Search and rescue teams were immediately deployed, and 40 percent of the shuttle has been recovered to this day.
It was also found that the 7-person crew was never aware of any issue, and the authorities reasoned: “You know, there is nothing we can do [...] Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?”
On February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle was making its usual approach to the Kennedy Space Center after a successful two-week mission, but shortly before 9:00am, abnormal readings in Mission Control indicated that something was wrong. Seconds later, the spacecraft broke apart in the sky.
Columbia’s first flight took place in April of 1981, the first space shuttle to fly in space, and it completed 27 successful missions in total.
On January 16, 2003, the shuttle took off for its 28th endeavor and was tasked with research activities in a routine assignment.
However, the first problems arose merely 82 seconds after the spacecraft left the ground when a piece of foam detached from the external tank structure and pierced the left wing. A later investigation determined that NASA was aware of the incident from the beginning.
Several people within the agency demanded to review imagery of the breached wing -now in orbit- to assess the damage and the risk, and even the Department of Defense was ready to employ its orbital spy cameras to look closer. But according to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, NASA officials in charge of the program dismissed the offers and warnings.
The landing then proceeded without further inspection, and when the spacecraft was flying over Dallas at 200,000 feet and 18 times the speed of sound, all communications with the crew were lost, and the readings from the shuttle vanished.
Minutes later, Mission Control received a call: a television network was broadcasting the spacecraft as it disintegrated in the air. Search and rescue teams were immediately deployed, and 40 percent of the shuttle has been recovered to this day.
It was also found that the 7-person crew was never aware of any issue, and the authorities reasoned: “You know, there is nothing we can do [...] Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?”
