Today back then: NASA's space shuttle Columbia explodes while re-entering Earth on Feb 1, 2003

Today back then: NASA's space shuttle Columbia explodes while re-entering Earth on Feb 1, 2003

NASA had to make several technical and organizational changes in order to ensure the safety of other shuttle missions.

On this day in 2003, the world witnessed one of the most tragic moments in the history of space exploration.

US space shuttle Columbia broke up catastrophically and exploded while returning to Earth from an orbital mission, killing all seven crew members.

One of the crew members was Kalpna Chawla, an aerospace engineer of Indian-origin who was on her second space mission.

Columbia broke apart while re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. The disaster occurred only a few minutes before the shuttle was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Texas.

The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space shuttle Program, after the breakup of the Challenger in 1986.

An investigation revealed that the disaster was caused by a piece of foam insulation that had broken off the shuttle's propellant tank and damaged the left-wing.

Following the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years and construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was put on hold.

NASA had to make several technical and organizational changes in order to ensure the safety of other shuttle missions.

The crew of Columbia was - Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson Payload scientist, Ilan Ramon, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist David M. Brown, and Mission specialist Laurel Blair Salton Clark.

Today back then: NASA's space shuttle Columbia explodes while re-entering Earth on Feb 1, 2003
Cargo spacecraft named after Kalpana Chawla arrives at space

About Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal Haryana. She studied in Karnal’s Tagore Baal Niketan Sr. Sec. School and then went to study aeronautical engineering at Chandigarh’s Punjab Engineering College.

After securing a Master's Degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1984, she earned a doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado.

Her stint with NASA began in 1988 when she started working at the Ames Research Centre.

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