Columbia STS-107

The crew of Columbia STS-107. Back row, left to right: David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, and Ilan Ramon. Front row, left to right: Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, and William McCool.

Columbia STS-107 was launched on 16 January 2003 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on a mission dedicated to science. Communication with Columbia was lost during re-entry at approximately 8:59am EST on 1 February 2003 while it was flying over the Dallas, Texas area. Shortly afterwards the vehicle was destroyed killing all seven on board. Columbia was approximately 17 minutes from touchdown at Kennedy Space Center.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that the technical reason for the loss of Columbia and her crew was that a piece of foam insulation from the external tank fell off and struck the leading edge of Columbia's left wing during launch. This left a significant hole in the heat shield and allowed very high temperatures to penetrate the wing. Structural failure of the wing resulted, causing the entire vehicle to break apart. Please visit The STS-107 Investigation Reference Page for more information.

A memorial service was held on 4 February 2003 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. President George W. Bush was among the speakers. Click here to see the text of his speech and to see pictures from the service.

The crew of Columbia STS-107 waving after a televised press conference on 20 January 2003.