Further, the board determined that, unlike NASA's early claims, a rescue mission would have been possible using the Shuttle The seven crew members who died aboard this final mission were: The debris field encompassed hundreds of miles across The Shuttle's final crew was honored in 2003 when the The musical group Echo's Children included singer-songwriter Cat Faber's "Columbia" on their final album The tool for predicting tile damage was known as "Crater", described by several NASA representatives in press briefings as not actually a software program but rather a statistical spreadsheet of observed past flight events and effects. As the second orbiter to be constructed, and the first able to fly into space, Despite refinements to the orbiter's thermal protection system and other enhancements, Another unique external feature, termed the "SILTS" pod (Shuttle Infrared Leeside Temperature Sensing),* Mission cancelled following suspension of shuttle flights following the The report delved deeply into the underlying organizational and cultural issues that the Board believed contributed to the accident. The impact appears to be totally on the lower surface and no particles are seen to traverse over the upper surface of the wing. Don't you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out?Much of the risk assessment hinged on damage predictions to the thermal protection system. One of two women aboard the space shuttle Columbia, Dr. Clark served as a mission specialist, responsible for a variety of medical experiments, including the effects of gravity on the heart and lungs. We have seen this same phenomenon on several other flights and there is absolutely no concern for entry.In 2008, NASA released a detailed report on survivability aspects of the The shuttle's separated nose section rotated unsteadily about all three axes. The report confirmed the immediate cause of the accident was a breach in the leading edge of the left wing, caused by insulating foam shed during launch. After the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years, as they had been after the NASA ultimately made several technical and organizational changes, including adding a thorough on-orbit inspection to determine how well the shuttle's The left bipod foam ramp is an approximately three-foot-long (1 m) aerodynamic component made entirely of foam.
In an e-mail exchange, NASA managers questioned whether the density of the SOFI could be used as justification for reducing predicted damage. Post-disaster analysis revealed that two previous shuttle launches (In a risk-management situation similar to that of the Throughout the risk assessment process, senior NASA managers were influenced by their belief that nothing could be done even if damage were detected. The report also delved deeply into the underlying organizational and cultural issues that led to the accident. NASA identified the piece as a power reactant storage and distribution tank.Among the recovered items was a videotape recording made by the astronauts during the start of reentry. It had been shown that the model overstated damage from small projectiles, and engineers believed that the model would also overstate damage from larger Spray-On Foam Insulation (SOFI) impacts. Because of these special requirements, the casting-in-place and curing of the ramps may be performed only by a senior technician.Bipod ramp insulation had been observed falling off, in whole or in part, on four previous flights: As it happened, STS-112 had been the first flight with the "ET cam", a video feed mounted on the ET for the purpose of giving greater insight to the foam shedding problem. "All evidence indicated that crew error was in no way responsible for the disintegration of the orbiter, and they had acted correctly and according to procedure at the first indication of trouble. The report was highly critical of NASA's decision-making and risk-assessment processes. Despite engineering concerns about the energy imparted by the SOFI material, NASA managers ultimately accepted the rationale to reduce predicted damage of the RCC panels from possible complete penetration to slight damage to the panel's thin coating.Ultimately the NASA Mission Management Team felt there was insufficient evidence to indicate that the strike was an unsafe situation, so they declared the debris strike a "turnaround" issue (not of highest importance) and denied the requests for the On January 23, flight director Steve Stich sent an e-mail to During ascent at approximately 80 seconds, photo analysis shows that some debris from the area of the -Y ET Bipod Attach Point came loose and subsequently impacted the orbiter left wing, in the area of transition from Chine to Main Wing, creating a shower of smaller particles.