The tragedy of columbia ferry is the most catastrophic space accidentwhich occurred on February 1, 2003, exactly 20 years ago and a dark stain in the history of space research that is sadly remembered in the POT and the world.
NASA had taken forecasts after the Challenger lament (1986) another of the greatest tragedies in history and in which seven crew members also died. But the Columbia disintegrated at 21,000 kilometers per hour and the burning remains of the shuttle remain in the retinas of many witnesses over the Texas sky.
This case arose from previous damage to the ship’s structure, which worsened when it came into contact with the Earth’s atmosphere during the return home maneuver. They lost their lives Rick Husband, William McCool, Ilan Ramo, David Brown, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark, and Kalpana Chawla.
What happened to the Columbia?
As he recalls a report published on the website of The sixthon the morning of February 1, 2003, STS-107 mission aboard Columbia was set to conclude a 16-day space journey with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But During the descent and minutes after touching down, the control tower lost communication with the ship and the crew..
The shuttle suffered a rupture in the left wing’s thermal protection system while about 200,000 feet above North Texas, causing the aircraft to disintegrate.
NASA, after a seven-month investigation and in which they recovered 85,000 remains of Columbia, concluded that the accident was caused by a piece of insulating foam from the external tank that detached during the launch and hit the left wing of the Columbia.
Mike Ciannilli, manager of a NASA program dedicated to this accident, told EFE: “It is absolutely critical to look at our past and make sure that we did indeed learn all the lessons, all the causes that contributed to the accident”.
“It’s one of those memories you never forget.the images you saw and what you heard are things that remain impregnated in your memory. Every time we fly into space there is always a portion of risk, no different from when we left the house each morning. There is always risk in everything we do”.
Ciannilli, like many other engineers today, gives conferences, participates in forums and works with different agencies, private and academic institutions so that this type of accident does not happen again. Regardless of his ambitions, this is the true mission of NASA.
