Tuesday, February 1, 2011: During the STS-107 mission, the crew appears to fly toward the camera in a group photo aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. On the bottom row (L to R) are astronauts Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick D. Husband, mission commander; Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. In the top row (L to R) are astronauts David M. Brown, mission specialist; William C. McCool, pilot; and Michael P. Anderson, payload commander. On February 1, 2003, during re-entry, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over northern Texas with all seven crewmembers aboard. This picture survived on a roll of unprocessed film recovered by searchers from the debris.
--Tom Chao
Space shuttle Columbia launches on mission STS-107, January 16, 2003.
This image of the Space Shuttle Columbia in orbit during mission STS-107 was taken by the U.S. Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) on Jan. 28, four days before Columbia's reentry, as the spacecraft flew above the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
An overall view of the shuttle flight control room (WFCR) in Houston’s Mission Control Center (MCC) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). At the time this photo was taken, flight controllers had just lost contact with the Space Shuttle Columbia.
This image of the Space Shuttle Columbia in orbit during mission STS-107 was taken by the U.S. Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing Site (AMOS) on Jan. 28, four days before Columbia's reentry, as the spacecraft flew above the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
This image is a view of the underside of Columbia during its entry from mission STS-107 on Feb. 1, 2003, as it passed by the Starfire Optical Range, Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The image was taken at approximately 7:57 a.m. CST. This image was received by NASA as part of the Columbia accident investigation and is being analyzed.
An overview of the Columbia debris reconstruction hangar in 2003 shows the orbiter outline on the floor with some of the 78,760 pieces identified to that date. More than 84,000 pieces of shuttle debris were recovered, some of which is included in a traveling NASA display to stress safety.
Debris from Columbia is examined by workers at the Kennedy Space Center on April 14, 2003.
The National Air and Space Museum is considering the display of debris from space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.
President George W. Bush issued his own space policy statement in 2006, which further encouraged private enterprise in space.
Lloyd Behrendt recreated Columbia's STS-107 launch in this work, titled "Sacriflight."
STS-107 patch.
The STS-107 crew. Front from left: Rick Husband William McCool. Standing from left: David Brown, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Michael Anderson and Ilan Ramon.
These are two composite images of Columbia during ascent on STS-107. The images are both derived from an average of 17 video fields totalling about one-quarter of a second of video. The left image is taken from video before a debris strike recorded by other cameras. The one on the right is taken from video after a debris strike recorded by other cameras. The imagery from video was of too low resolution, however, to be significant for use in an engineering analysis that was performed during Columbia's flight regarding the debris strike.
Holly Leonard is pictured among the crowd on the mall of the Johnson Space Center during the memorial for the Columbia astronauts.
In memory of the Space Shuttle Columbia crewmembers who lost their lives on February 1, 2003, a massive collection of flowers, balloons, flags, signs, and other arrangements were placed at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) sign at the main entrance to the center.
