Editing Space Shuttle Columbia (section)

==Final mission and destruction==

{{Main|Space Shuttle Columbia disaster}}

[[File:ColumbiaFLIR2003.png|thumb|Rare Day TV (DTV) imaging photograph of ''Columbia'''s disintegration captured by an AH-64D Apache's gun camera during training with RNLAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force) personnel out of [[Fort Hood]], Texas<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theaviationist.com/2014/02/01/sts-107-disaster-video/|title = Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster as seen through AH-64 Apache camera|date = February 2014}}</ref>]]
[[File:Columbia Memorial.JPG|thumb|upright|right|''Columbia'' memorial in [[Arlington National Cemetery]]]]
''Columbia'' disintegrated on February 1, 2003, around 09:00 [[Time zone#UTC-5 (EST - Eastern Standard Time)|EST]] during atmospheric re-entry after a [[STS-107|16-day scientific mission]]. The [[Columbia Accident Investigation Board]] has determined that one of ''Columbia's'' wings,  made of a carbon [[Reinforced carbon–carbon|composite]], had been punctured 16 days earlier. A hole had formed when the external fuel tank shed material that peeled off during the launch, and struck the shuttle's left wing. During the intense heat of re-entry, hot gases penetrated the interior of the wing. The likely result was a compromise of the hydraulic system, leading to failure of the linkage to control surfaces. The resulting loss of control would have exposed minimally protected areas of the orbiter to full-entry heating and dynamic pressures that ultimately led to break up of the entire spacecraft.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/298870main_SP-2008-565.pdf#page=56 | title = Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report | date = December 30, 2008 | website = nasa.gov | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration | access-date = March 31, 2016 }}</ref>

The report delved deeply into the underlying organizational and cultural issues the board believed contributed to the accident. The report was highly critical of NASA's decision-making and risk-assessment processes. Further, the report outlined several potential options for saving the crew which NASA had not considered during the mission, such as a potential rescue with the shuttle ''Atlantis'' (then being prepped for launch for STS-114), or in-flight repairs for the damaged wing.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NASA|url=http://www.nasa.gov/index.html|access-date=February 8, 2023|website=NASA|language=en|archive-date=April 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423035418/https://www.nasa.gov/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The nearly 84,000 pieces of collected debris of the vessel are stored in a large room on the 16th-floor of the [[Vehicle Assembly Building]] at the [[Kennedy Space Center]]. The collection was opened to the media once and has since been open only to researchers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/46632/shuttle_columbias_wreckage_finds_final_resting_place/index.html|title=Shuttle Columbia's wreckage finds final resting place|date=February 8, 2004|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113144628/http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/46632/shuttle_columbias_wreckage_finds_final_resting_place/index.html|archive-date=November 13, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-020104a.html|title=Columbia's Arlington|date=February 1, 2004 |publisher=Collect Space}}</ref> Unlike ''Challenger'', for which a [[Space Shuttle Endeavour|replacement orbiter]] was built, ''Columbia'' was not replaced.

The seven crew members who died aboard this final mission were: [[Rick Husband]], Commander; [[William C. McCool]], Pilot; [[Michael P. Anderson]], Payload Commander/Mission Specialist 3; [[David M. Brown]], Mission Specialist 1; [[Kalpana Chawla]], Mission Specialist 2; [[Laurel Clark]], Mission Specialist 4; and [[Ilan Ramon]], Payload Specialist 1.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Introduction|url=https://history.nasa.gov/columbia/index.html|access-date=February 8, 2023|website=history.nasa.gov}}</ref>