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2003 CNN Screen Capture of Columbia Debris

(L-R) David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, Ilan Ramon

February 1st, 2003: Space Shuttle Columbia was lost when a damaged thermal protection tile on the shuttle overheated and came apart leading to loss of the wing and eventual total disintegration of the entire shuttle. For four of the astronauts this was their first trip to space; for Commander Rick Husband, Flight Engineer Kalpana Chawla, and Payload Commander Michael Anderson their second.

The mission was STS-107 and the shuttle carried the SPACEHAB module on its inaugural flight. Also included in the mission package was the Freestar experiment and the Extended Duration Orbiter pallet.

Another experiment performed on board was a video to study dust in the atmosphere. Their experiment may have discovered a new sort of phenomenon in the atmosphere called a Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red. Thankfully shortened to TIGER.

Petr Ginz, Editor in Chief of Vedem.

Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut and he carried with him a copy of a drawing by a boy named Petr Ginz. Petr was editor-in-chief of the magazine Vedem. Czech for We Lead, the magazine was made from 1942 to 1944 by boys living in the Barracks L417 (Home One). The drawing was a depiction of what he imagined the Earth looked like from the Moon when he was 14-years old and living in the Terezin concentration camp.

Roughly 82 seconds after launch a large piece of thermal insulation broke off the external tank (the large orange portion of the shuttle) and struck Columbia's left wing and specifically the heat tiles. The insulation is used to prevent the build up of ice due to the tanks being full of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Without the insulation the chunks of ice would pose a horrible threat to the orbiter.

Columbia made 255 orbits of an altitude of 190 miles over a 15 day 22 hour period. This equates to roughly 6.5 million miles traveled.

Rick Husband

Richard Douglas "Rick" Husband, Commander.

Rick Husband was born in Amarillo, Texas on July 12, 1957. He was a test pilot and a colonel in the United States Air Force. He had logged nearly 4000 hours of flight time in over 40 different types of aircraft. Rick Husband was selected by NASA in December 1994. His previous space flight experience was mission STS-96, the first shuttle flight to dock with the International Space Station. He left behind a wife and two children.

William McCool

William Cameron "Willie" McCool, Pilot.

William McCool was born September 23, 1961 in San Diego, California. He was a test pilot and a commander in the United States Navy. He logged nearly 3000 flight hours in 24 different aircraft and had over 400 carrier arrestments. He was selected by NASA in April 1996 and was assigned to be the pilot for STS-107. This was his first space flight. He left behind a wife and children.

David Brown

David McDowell Brown, Mission Specialist 1.

David Brown was born April 16, 1956 in Arlington, Virgina. He was a test pilot and a captain in the United States Navy. He logged over 2700 flight hours with 1700 of those hours in high performance military aircraft. He also held a Technician Class amateur radio license and had the call sign KC5ZTC. He was selected by NASA in April 1996 and was eventually assigned to be a mission specialist on STS-107. This was his first space flight. While in the Navy Brown received various awards including navy Operational Flight Surgeon of the Year award (1986), Meritorious Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and various posthumous awards including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Space Flight Medal.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla (ਕਲਪਨਾ ਚਾਵਲਾ in Punjabi, कल्‍पना चावला in Hindi), Mission Specialist 2.

Kalpana Chawla was born March 17, 1962 in Karnal, Haryana, India. She was a research scientist and received a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. She went on to get a second Master of Science dgree in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She held a Technician Class Amateur Radio license and had the call sign KD5ESI. She was also a certified flight instructor and was rated for airplanes and gliders. She held a commerical pilot license for single/multiengine planes, seaplanes, and gliders. Chawla joined NASA in March 1995 and was a member of STS-87. She was the second Indian to fly in space and first Indian woman.

Michael Anderson

Michael Philip Anderson, Payload Commander.

Michael Anderson was born Christmas Day, 1959 in Plattsburgh, New York. He was a scientist and lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He received a Moaster of Science degree in physics from Creighton University in 1990. Anderson had logged over 2000 flight hours. He was selected by NASA in December 1994 and had his first flight to space on mission STS-89, a shuttle-Mir docking mission.

Laurel Clark

Dr. Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Mission Specialist 4.

Dr. Laurel Clark was born on March 10, 1961 in Ames, Iowa. She was a flight surgeon and attained the rank of captain in the United States Navy. She received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987. Dr. Clark was a member of the Aerospace Medical Association and the Society of U.S. Naval Flight Surgeons. She left behind a husband, former NASA flight surgeon Dr. Jonathan Clark, and a son.

Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon (אילן רמון in Hebrew), Payload Specialist 1.

Ilan Ramon was born on June 20, 1954 in Ramat Gan, Israel. He was a fighter pilot and was of the rank colonel in the Israeli Air Force. He received his Bachelors in Science in electronics and computer engineering from the Tel Aviv University. Ilan was selected by NASA in 1997 and eventually assigned to mission STS-107. He left behind a wife and four children. Ilan Ramon is the only foreign recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Now, seven years later, we are in the final year of the Space Shuttle missions. We have six missions left and then our ability to visit space will be limited to taking rides with the Russians. The project that was meant to take us to space beginning in 2015 appears to be on the cutting board with the newest proposed government budget cutting the program all together or with a very limited budget. Where we are going in space is going to be out of our hands for some time.