Jan 31, 2013

On Feb. 1, 2003, seven astronauts died when the U.S. space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Columbia disappeared from radar screens while it was over Texas, 16 minutes before it was due to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Several white trails of smoke were seen coming from shuttle.

: The crew of Space Shuttle Columbia’s mission STS-107 take a break from their training regime to pose for the traditional crew portrait. Seated in front are astronauts Rick D. Husband (L), mission commander; Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; and William C. McCool, pilot. Standing are (L to R) astronauts David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark, and Michael P. Anderson, all mission specialists; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist representing the Israeli Space Agency. The one-year anniversary of the space shuttle Columbia disaster during re-entry will be marked February 1, 2004. (NASA photo/via Getty Images)

: In this January 16, 2003 photograph, space shuttle Columbia and its 7-member crew including Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, lifts off from its Kennedy Space Center launchpad on a 16-day science mission. February 1, 2013 marks the 10-year anniversary when the aircraft broke apart after entering the Earth’s atmosphere. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

: Colonel Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, seen aboard an F-16 in this undated file photo, died on Saturday in the space shuttle Columbia disaster among six other astronauts. Ramon, at 26 years old, was the youngest pilot to take part in the June 7, 1981 Israeli air raid on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor’s core. Israelis mourned on Sunday the death of their country’s first astronaut with a weary sense of familiarity with dashed dreams. The spaceshuttle Columbia broke up in the skies 200,000 feet over Texas. (Israeli Air force magazine/via Reuters)

: In this NASA video released 28 February, 2003, space shuttle Columbia pilot William McCool (L) goes through routine entry procedures as commander Rick Husband (R) takes a drink as part of their fluid loading 01 February, 2003 on the flight deck during reentry over the Pacific Ocean for a planned landing in Florida. The video made by the seven astronauts on Columbia shortly before it broke up has been recently found. The partially-damaged tape shows four crew “doing normal activities” on the flight deck, some 25 minutes ahead of the scheduled landing, about 10 minutes before the shuttle broke up 01 February over the south-west United States, scattering debris over several states. (NASA video/via Getty)

: In this November 3, 2003 photograph, searchers with GPS equipment begin the search for human remains south and east of Hemphill, Texas after the Columbia tragedy. Cross was put in by Roger Coady who has a vacation home next door to mark where he saw a torso. (George Skene/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

: Dive team member enter the Toledo Bend reservoir near the dam on the Louisiana side in the search for debris from the Space shuttle Columbia 11 February 2003 in Anacoco. Several dive teams searched the lake as hundreds of searchers canvassed the heavy forest in Texas. (Paul Buck/Getty Images)

: U.S. President George W. Bush bows his head in prayer with family members of the deceased astronauts from the space shuttle Columbia, during a memorial service February 4, 2003 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. NASA astronauts and scientists were joined by President Bush at a memorial service to honor the seven member crew, marking a brief pause in their painstaking analysis of the cause of the disaster. Joining Bush (L-R) are Christopher McCool – son, Sean McCool – son (obscured), the widow of William (Willie) McCool – Lani McCool, Evelyn Husband – widow of Rick Husband, daughter Laura Husband and son Matthew Husband. (Larry Downing/Reuters photo)

: Members of the US Forest Service and the US Environmental Protection Agency loads debris of the nose section of the Space Shuttle Columbia from the woods of Hemphill, Texas, 05 February 2003. The debris will be taken to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for study. (Eric Gay/Getty Images)

: NASA employees bow their heads in prayer at a memorial service February 4, 2003 for the seven astronauts killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster. NASA astronauts and scientists were joined by President Bush at a memorial service to honor the seven member crew, marking a brief pause in their painstaking analysis of the cause of the disaster. (Jason Reed/Reuters photo)

: Kathy Kirsh (R) and her daughter Michelle Eggebrecht (L), from Seabrook, Texas console each other outside the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, Texas, 01 February, 2003. Hundreds of people came to the Johnson Space Center to leave flowers in remembrance of the seven astronauts who died 01 February when the US space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Columbia disappeared from radar screens while it was over Texas, 16 minutes before it was due to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Several white trails of smoke were seen coming from shuttle as it split up. (Jim Mahoney/Getty Images)

: In this NASA handout, Columbia Space Shuttle debris lies floor of the RLV Hangar May 15, 2003 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. More than 82,000 pieces have been delivered to the space center with 78,760 having been identified. (NASA/via Getty Images)

: This video image obtained 05 June 2003 courtesy of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board shows a 1.7 pound piece of foam breaking up after being fired at 531mph at a mock-up of a space shuttle wing during tests conducted by the Columbia Investigation Board 29 May. It is suspected that a piece of foam breaking off of the shuttle caused cracks in the wing of Columbia that led to its disintegration on re-entry 01 February 2003. Black mark (L) indicates where foam hit the wing. (Columbia Investigation Board/via Getty)

: Kennedy Space Center workers examine and log in debris from the US space shuttle Columbia in the RLV hanger 12 February 2003 at the Florida facility. The first of many shipments of debris arrived from Texas and Louisiana for reconstruction and analysis. (Bruce Weaver/Getty Images)

: Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s (CAIB) Chairman Harold Gehman speaks to reporters at National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) headquarters in Washington, DC 26 August, 2003 after the CAIB’s 200-plus-page report on the space shuttle Columbia disaster was released. he official inquiry into the Columbia space shuttle said that NASA managers were “as much a cause” of the tragedy as technical faults. The board spent seven months probing the technical facts of the space tragedy and interviewing scores of engineers and other space workers to attach the fundamental blame in the 01 February, 2003 space shuttle’s explosion. (Luke Frazza/Getty Images)

: Gerardo Hernandez (R front) prepares to pump gas at a station where a marquee reads “God Bless Our Astronauts” beneath an American flag flying at half mast in tribute to the seven astronauts who died aboard the space shuttle Columbia, in Kilgore, Texas 07 February 2003. (Mike Nelson/Getty Images)

: Flags fly at half-staff at the base of the Washington Monument in memory of those who perished aboard the space shuttle Columbia Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003, in Washington. Space shuttle Columbia broke apart over East Texas as it prepared to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Saturday morning. All crew members perished in the disaster. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP photo)

: The flag is lifted from the casket of space shuttle Columbia Mission Specialist Captain David Brown in Arlington National Cemetery March 12, 2003 in Arlington, Virginia. Brown, one of the seven member crew on the last voyage of space shuttle Columbia, was buried with full naval honors. (Stefan Zaklin/Getty Images)

: The space shuttle Discovery slowly moves towards the pad after exiting the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in this April 6, 2005 photo. Top NASA officials called a meeting Thursday, April 28, 2005, to discuss the latest launch-debris analyses and the chances of holding to a May liftoff for the first space shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster. (Peter Cosgrove/AP photo)

: Kennedy Space Center workers look on as Space Shuttle Discovery is moved from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building in the early hours of March 29, 2005 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Discovery is scheduled to lift-off May 15, 2005 as the first return to flight mission since the Columbia disaster. (Matt Stroshane/Getty Images)

: Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts Charles Camarda, Andrew Thomas, Wendy Lawrence, Stephen Robinson, pilot Jim Kelly, Soichi Noguchi, of JAXA, and commander Eileen Collins (L to R) leave the crew quarters to load into the astronaut van and be driven to launch complex 39-B at Kennedy Space Center July 26, 2005, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Discovery is scheduled for launch July 26 and will be the first shuttle launched since the Columbia disaster over two years ago. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center as onlookers watch July 26, 2005 in Titusville, Florida. Discovery is the first shuttle launched since the Columbia disaster over two years ago. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: A view from the International Space Station shows the nose and forward cargo bay of the US space shuttle Discovery 28 July 2005 just before the shuttle docked with the station. (NASA photo/via Getty Images)

: US space shuttle Discovery with its cargo doors open as seen from the International Space Station 06 August 2005 after Discovery’s undocking with the station. NASA woke up Discovery’s astronauts late 07 August 2005 to make final preparations for the pre-dawn return to Earth that will conclude the first space shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster. (NASA video/via Getty Images)

: The space shuttle Discovery lands 17 July, 2006 at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Discovery made a smooth landing in Florida Monday, completing a 13-day mission considered critical for the US space program’s recovery from the 2003 Columbia disaster. (Stan Honda/Getty Images)

Archive offers new life for fallen space shuttle Columbia
Irene Klotz | Reuters
1:17 p.m. EST, January 31, 2013

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Space shuttle Columbia’s flying days came to an abrupt and tragic end on February 1, 2003, when damage from a broken wing crescendo, dooming the seven astronauts aboard.

Although Columbia now lies in pieces, its mission is not over.

The recovered wreckage, painstakingly retrieved from Texas and Louisiana for months after the accident, was preserved for a unique archive and education program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“I can talk about safety, but once I open those doors and folks enter into the room, it becomes a different conversation,” said Michael Ciannilli, who oversees NASA’s Columbia Research and Preservation Office. “When you come face to face with Columbia in the room, it becomes real. It becomes extremely real.”

Ten years ago, Columbia was on its 28th mission, a rare research initiative in the midst of International Space Station construction flights.

The crew included the first astronaut from Israel, Ilan Ramon, and six Americans — commander Richard Husband, pilot William McCool, flight engineer Kalpana Chawla, payload commander Michael Anderson and flight surgeons David Brown and Laurel Clark.

After 16 days in space, the shuttle was gliding back to Florida for landing when it broke apart due to wing damage that had unknowingly occurred during launch.

Accident investigators determined that a chunk of insulating foam from the shuttle’s fuel tank had fallen off 81 seconds after liftoff and hit a carbon composite wing panel that turned out to be unexpectedly fragile. The breach proved fatal.

NASA had no idea falling foam debris, a common occurrence during shuttle launches, could do so much damage.

“One of the most important things that came from Columbia is to really learn to listen to your hardware. It’s talking to you,” Ciannilli said.

Pieces of Columbia’s heat shield, including wing panels and protective thermal tiles, are among the most requested items for study from the archive.

Upon request, NASA lends specific components to researchers and educational institutes for analysis. In addition to NASA field centers and aerospace companies, program participants include Caterpillar, the Colorado School of Mines and Ohio State University.

By understanding the dynamics of flight and how specific parts of Columbia were impacted, the hope is engineers will be able to design safer ships in the future.

The collection includes more than 84,000 individual pieces, most of which are cataloged and boxed. A handful of materials and structures — a tire, a wing panel, pieces of tile — are on display in the front part of a 7,000-square-foot room inside the Vehicle Assembly Building where the archive is housed.

“Sometimes I walk into the room, especially if I’m alone, and it comes back, some of the emotions, some of the feeling, some of the memories,” Ciannilli said. “I lived the recovery operation in Texas, so you have these moments where you flash back.”

“Some days are a little bit more introspective and difficult, but I really counter that with the fact that I’ve seen so much good come out of it. Every single tour engages in a conversation about safety,” he said.

The Vehicle Assembly Building was once used to piece together space shuttles for flight, but it, like most of the Kennedy Space Center, is in the midst of a transition following the end of the shuttle program in 2011.

Only Columbia remains at the space center. Sisterships Discovery and Endeavour were relocated to museums, and Atlantis was transferred to Kennedy Space Center’s privately operated visitors complex.

“We teach the story, show the effects of the accident and show the fixes that we put into place,” Ciannilli said. “Columbia’s mission was a mission of education and research. We try to continue that in their name.”

(Editing by Kevin Gray and Leslie Adler)

10th Anniversary of Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster

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