Editing STS-107 (section)

==Mission highlights==
{{Expand section|date=January 2024}}
STS-107 carried the [[SPACEHAB]] Research Double Module ([[Research Double Module|RDM]]) on its inaugural flight, the [[Freestar experiment]] (mounted on a [[Hitchhiker Program]] rack), and the [[Extended Duration Orbiter]] pallet. SPACEHAB was first flown on STS-57.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

On the day of the experiment, a video taken to study atmospheric [[dust]] may have detected a new atmospheric phenomenon, dubbed a "TIGER" (Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red).<ref name="newscientist-20050119">{{Cite magazine |last=Mckee |first=Maggie |date=January 19, 2005 |title=Columbia crew saw new atmospheric phenomenon |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6897-columbia-crew-saw-new-atmospheric-phenomenon/ |url-status=live |magazine=[[New Scientist]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606131513/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6897-columbia-crew-saw-new-atmospheric-phenomenon/ |archive-date=June 6, 2023 |access-date=December 10, 2010 }}</ref>

On board ''Columbia'' was a [[:File:Earth seen from the Moon.jpg|copy of a drawing]] by [[Petr Ginz]], the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''[[Vedem]]'', who depicted what he imagined the [[Earth]] looked like from the [[Moon]] when he was a 14-year-old prisoner in the [[Concentration camp Theresienstadt|Terezín]] [[concentration camp]]. The copy was in the possession of [[Ilan Ramon]] and was lost in the disintegration. Ramon also traveled with a dollar bill received from the [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson#Sunday office hours for charity|Lubavitcher Rebbe]].<ref name="jta-20030127">{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Irene |date=January 27, 2003 |title=Israeli astronaut busy up in space |work=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |location=Cape Canaveral, Fla. |url=https://www.jta.org/2003/01/27/lifestyle/israeli-astronaut-busy-up-in-space |url-status=live |access-date=May 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328173648/https://www.jta.org/2003/01/27/lifestyle/israeli-astronaut-busy-up-in-space |archive-date=March 28, 2023 }}</ref>

An Australian experiment, created by students from [[Glen Waverley Secondary College]], was designed to test the reaction of zero gravity on the web formation of the [[Australian garden orb weaver spider]].<ref name="smh-20030202">{{Cite news |date=February 2, 2003 |title=Australian space spiders perish |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |agency=[[Australian Associated Press]] |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-space-spiders-perish-20030202-gdg7fh.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220212051629/https://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-space-spiders-perish-20030202-gdg7fh.html |archive-date=February 12, 2022 }}</ref>

===Major experiments===
[[File:STS107Launch NASA.gif|thumb|STS-107 ignition, launch and lift-off of ''Columbia''.]]
Examples of some of the experiments and investigations on the mission.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |date=August 29, 2023 |editor-last=Michele |editor-first=Ostovar |title=STS-107 |url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-107/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127185602/https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-107/ |archive-date=November 27, 2023 |access-date=February 15, 2023 |publisher=[[NASA]]}}</ref>

In SPACEHAB RDM:<ref name="auto1"/>
*9 commercial payloads with 21 investigations;
*4 payloads for the European Space Agency with 14 investigations;
*1 payload for ISS Risk Mitigation;
*18 payloads NASA's Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) with 23 investigations.

In the payload bay attached to RDM:<ref name="auto1"/>
*Combined Two-Phase Loop Experiment (COM2PLEX);
*Miniature Satellite Threat Reporting System (MSTRS);
*Star Navigation (STARNAV).

[[Freestar experiment|FREESTAR]]<ref name="auto1"/>
*Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2);
*Space Experiment Module (SEM-14);
*Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX);
*Low Power Transceiver (LPT);
*Solar Constant Experiment-3 (SOLCON-3);
*Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment (SOLSE-2);

Additional payloads<ref name="auto1"/>
*Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Local Exhaust Experiment (SIMPLEX);
*Ram Burn Observation (RAMBO).

Because much of the data was transmitted during the mission, there was still large return on the mission objectives even though ''Columbia'' was lost on re-entry. NASA estimated that 30% of the total science data was saved and collected through [[telemetry]] back to ground stations. Around 5-10% more data was saved and collected through recovering samples and hard drives intact on the ground after the [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster]], increasing the total data of saved experiments despite the disaster from 30% to 35-40%.{{r|auto1}}<ref name="science_gained">{{Cite web |last=John |first=Charles |last2=Liskowsky |first2=David |date=May 30, 2003 |title=STS-107 Whole Payload % Science Gained: Code U, ISS RME, SPACEHAB commercial, ESA, FREESTAR |url=http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-107/Science_Gained_05-30-03.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041113154041/http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-107/Science_Gained_05-30-03.pdf |archive-date=November 13, 2004 |access-date=December 5, 2020 }}</ref>

About five or six ''Columbia'' payloads encompassing many experiments were successfully recovered in the debris field. Scientists and engineers were able to recover 99% of the data for one of the six FREESTAR experiments, Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2), that flew unpressurized in the payload bay during the mission after recovering the [[viscometer]] and hard drive damaged but fully intact in the debris field in Texas. NASA recovered a commercial payload, Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates (ITA) Biomedical Experiments-2 (CIBX-2), and ITA was able to increase the total data saved from STS-107 from 0% to 50% for this payload. This experiment studied treatments for cancer, and the [[micro-encapsulation]] experiment part of the payload was completely recovered, increasing from 0% data to 90% data after recovering the samples fully intact for this experiment. In this same payload were numerous crystal-forming experiments by hundreds of elementary and middle school students from all across the United States. Miraculously most of their experiments were found intact in CIBX-2, increasing from 0% data to 100% fully recovered data. The BRIC-14 (moss growth experiment) and BRIC-60 (''[[Caenorhabditis elegans]]'' roundworm experiment) samples were found intact in the debris field within a {{convert|12|mi|km|adj=on}} radius in east Texas. 80-87% of these live organisms survived the catastrophe. The moss and roundworms experiments' original primary mission was not nominal due to the lack of having the samples immediately after landing in their original state (they were discovered many months after the crash), but these samples helped the scientific community greatly in the field of [[astrobiology]] and helped form new theories about microorganisms surviving a long trip in outer space while traveling on meteorites or asteroids.<ref name="aiaa-2004-285">{{Cite conference |last=Over |first=A. P. |last2=Cassanto |first2=J. M. |last3=Cassanto |first3=V. A. |last4=DeLucas |first4=L. J. |last5=Reichert |first5=P. |last6=Motil |first6=S. M. |last7=Reed |first7=D. W. |last8=Ahmay |first8=F. T. |date=January 2004 |title=STS-107 Mission after the Mission: Recovery of Data from the Debris of ''Columbia'' |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20040111285/downloads/20040111285.pdf |conference=AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting |location=Reno, Nv. |publisher=[[American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics]] |volume=42 |id=2004-285 }}</ref>

===Re-entry===
{{main|Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|l1=Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster|Columbia Accident Investigation Board|l2=''Columbia'' Accident Investigation Board}}
[[File:ColumbiaFLIR2003.png|thumb|left|FLIR imaging photograph of ''Columbia''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s disintegration captured by an [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|AH-64D Apache]]'s [[Forward-looking infrared|FLIR camera]] during training with RNLAF ([[Royal Netherlands Air Force]]) personnel out of Fort Hood, Texas.<ref name="aviationist-20140201">{{Cite news |last=Cenciotti |first=David |date=February 1, 2014 |title=Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster as seen through AH-64 Apache camera |work=The Aviationist |url=https://theaviationist.com/2014/02/01/sts-107-disaster-video/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331125749/https://theaviationist.com/2014/02/01/sts-107-disaster-video/ |archive-date=March 31, 2023 }}</ref>]]
{{blockquote|KSC landing was planned for Feb. 1 after a 16-day mission, but ''Columbia'' and crew were lost during re-entry over East Texas at about 9 a.m. EST, 16 minutes prior to the scheduled touchdown at KSC. |NASA{{r|auto1}}}}
''Columbia'' began re-entry as planned, but the heat shield was compromised due to damage sustained during the ascent. The heat of re-entry was free to spread into the damaged portion of the orbiter, ultimately causing its disintegration and the death of all seven astronauts.

The accident triggered a 7-month investigation and a search for debris, and over 85,000 pieces were collected throughout the initial investigation.<ref name="auto1"/> This amounted to roughly 38 percent of the orbiter vehicle.<ref name="auto1"/>
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