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7/23/2019 Tech Disaster Columbia
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The 2003 Columbia Disaster
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Columbia history
Milestones – OV102
July 26, 1972 Contract Award
Nov. 21, 1975 Start structural assembly of crew module
June 14, 1976 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
March 16, 1977 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
e!t. "0, 1977 Start of Final Assembly
#e$. 10, 197% Completed final assembly
#e$. 14, 197% Rollout from Palmdale
&!ril 12 19%1 Launc
Jan 16, 200" !"t and Last Fligt
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• TheColumbia disaster occurred on February 1
It disintegrated over Texas during re-entry.• Loss of all seven crew, before concluding its 28th mission.
# Caused by damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam
insulation the size of a small briefcase (loaf of bread) and known as the
Left Bipod Foam Ramp broke off the main propellant tank$
# The damaged area allowed the hot gases to penetrate and
destroy the internal wing structure, causing the in-flight break-up.
Columbia: 2003 mission STS-107
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Thermal ShieldThermal Shield
Primary heat shield made fromreinforced carbon/carbon tiles.
Capable of withstanding 1700oCSecondary shield Fibrous
refractory composite insulation(FC!" tiles# which are fle$ibleand %ery tough.
&hese combine with interior
insulation to protect the crewand %ehicle during theatmospheric bra'ing phase oforbital re entry.
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%e li&uid o'ygen is cryogenically cooled to -())*F +-
,"*C.%e li&uid ydrogen is cilled to -!(*F +-!/(*C.$
%ese li&uids must be 0ept at ig pressure and very low
temperature
or tey will boil bac0 to a gaseous state$
External Tank Foam Insulation
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'arnin(s )(nore*'arnin(s )(nore*
After Columbia safely reaced orbit te1ASA engineering safety team madetree re&uests to te 2epartment ofdefence to provide ig definition 3spy4satellite pictures of te orbiter$
%e re&uests were refused as te 252was busy over te middle east$ %e engineering team ten proposed a
space wal0 to cec0 te wing$ 1ASA management refused on te
grounds tat te crew scedule was full$
6ad te damage been discovered tecrew ad no way of ma0ing repairs7$
6owever7 Columbia did not ave enougfuel to doc0 wit te 8SS$
2espite rumours7 Columbia was beyondelp of any 0ind$
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+estruction+estruction9ngineering note tat
pressure readings ad beenlost on bot left main landing-gear tyres7 tey tell te crew$
A rapid cascade sensor
failure followed$
%e crew response is garbledand before tey can repeatte message ground
observers report tatColumbia as disintegrated$
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NoNoFoam stri0es at launc are still a
problem for te S%S$Stri0es occur because of te
nature of te lifter7 and tere isno way to avoid te problem$
1ASA as investigated many28: repair metods7 but noneave a realistic cance ofwor0ing$
As of now7 wen a suttlelaunces tere is anoter readyon sort standby$
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-he Net te!-he Net te!%e future appears to lie wit
truly reusable space veicle$Researc worldwide as been
leaning towards ybrid enginespace planes suc as S0ylonand te ; ($
%ese overcome most of tedisadvantages inerent in tedesign of te suttle$
%e tecnology is ready7 all it
needs is te will and temoney$
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#li(ht /istory#li(ht /istory%e first suttle7 Columbia flew on ,!
April ,<",$Since ten tere ave been ,!"launces of wic ! endedcatastropically$
%is gives te suttle a failure rate of
,$=>$ Wic ma0es it ()) timesmore dangerous ten crossing teroad$
Columbia and Callenger were botdestroyed in accidents7 tey werealso te oldest of te five suttles onte 1ASA fleet$
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The investigation board recommended:
• improving photography of launches, using telesco
photograph shuttles while they are in space
• adding the ability to repair a shuttle while in orbit.
Columbia: 2003 mission STS-107
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