Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

seven astronauts lost their lives when the space shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned to Earth. This was the second space shuttle disaster after the Challenger blew up during launch in 1986. Shuttle operations were interrupted by Challenger's demise. It wouldn't be until 1989 that Columbia flew again. But before that the Columbia flew once more in November 1983, carrying the Spacelab experiment module for the first time as well as the first European Space Agency astronaut. Columbia was then shelved for major upgrades before flying just one mission in 1986; that mission carried Democrat Bill Nelson on board, among the astronauts. The Columbia disaster directly led to the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in 2011. In a way Columbia was different from the previous shuttles because it was the first space shuttle to fly in space in 1981 and it was NASA's oldest shuttle. Columbia spend a total time of 300 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes, and 22 seconds. Columbia completed 27 successful missions before its disaster. Its 28 mission was just purely for…

The article “Committees, Juries, and Teams: The Columbia Disaster and How Small Groups Can Be Made to Work” by James Surowiecki begins by explaining the twenty-eight flight of the space shuttle Columbia. Columbia was hit by a large piece of foam which has been broken off by the left bipod area of the shuttle's external fuel tank. Surowiecki focuses on a narrow strip of the disaster which is how the small group decided that “nothing could be done”(Surowiecki, 475) about the hit and how their…

Managing Change at NASA For NASA, by the end of 1985, the need for change would begin to unfold as communication breakdown among its people began to take place (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). The need for change was not recognized until disaster struck and investigative results identified key information as to the need for change (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2009). The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in early 1986 was the first costly event which resulted from communication breakdown. After…

were necessary. The changes came as follows: the fans inside the oxygen tank were removed, the probes to judge the amount of oxygen in the tank were changed from aluminum to stainless steel and the wiring to and from the oxygen tanks were changed from copper to stainless steel (Teitel). Then finally, an additional oxygen tank was installed on the opposite side of the module to prevent a total failure of flight and life support systems (Teitel). The Shuttle program was born out of the Apollo…

conference call was conducted between NASA and Morton Thiokol Corporation engineers. The next day, the space shuttle Challenger was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Engineers with Morton Thiokol attempted to convince NASA to delay Challenger’s launch because the icy temperatures could cause the O-rings to fail, leading to catastrophic consequences. The O-rings sealed the rocket’s motor joints; made of rubber, they were likely to lose elasticity in the freezing temperatures the…

assigned to NASA would help to prevent this disaster from happening again. Since the exposing of the external fuel tank foam caused Columbia to explode the CAIB’s first recommendation was to improve external fuel tank foam. They will improve on this by using bolt catchers which will not allow for the external tank to break free (History.com Staff). In doing this future shuttles will not be able to lose a backup tank for emergencies. There are also important pre-flight inspections that must be…

When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere and exploded, killing the seven astronauts on board it was a horrible tragedy. It exploded do to a large piece of foam falling from the shuttle's external tank and fatally damaging the wing of the spacecraft. The hole on the left wing allowed gases from the atmosphere to pour into the shuttle as it began to re-enter the the Earth's atmosphere,eventually leading to loss of the spacecraft. While investigating for two years following the accident, space…

taxpayer’s money. When I stated the number of astronaut deaths, this should get them to ponder on what the taxpayers want from this purpose. Why should we dissipate the money on a program that could bring horrible death to someone? I am conducting the logos and some pathos by stating that thirteen Americans have died from spaceflight missions. The first tragedy was from the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that occurred on January 28, 1986, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members when…

Fifteen years ago on February 1, 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia Crashed. Columbia launched January 16, 2003. Around 82 seconds after Columbia had lifted-off a piece of foam had fallen from a “biopod ramp” which was a piece that helped support the external tank. With this piece fallen the department of defense prepared to use the orbital spy cameras to get a look at the left wing. However, NASA officials declined the offer. On the day of February 1,2003, Columbia was making a normal landing…

INTRODUCTION This memorandum is a failure analysis report regarding the Space Shuttle Columbia¬, the first space-rated Space Shuttle in NASA’s Orbiter fleet that disintegrated during re-entry during the end of its 28th mission on 1 February 2003 (Columbia Accident Investigation Board [CAIB], 2003, p. 39). The accident, described as a “tragedy” by former President George W. Bush, seized the lives of all seven crew-members aboard and led to a two-year suspension of the Space Shuttle Program…