On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia fell apart as it returned to Earth after spending more than two weeks in space.
The accident instantly killed all seven astronauts on board. This was the second fatal accident of the space shuttle program following the Challenger disaster in 1986, and NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the disaster. Investigators found that a piece of foam had broken off of the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch. That chunk of foam hit the shuttle's left wing and damaged the heat shield, which ultimately led to the spacecraft's destruction.
The accident instantly killed all seven astronauts on board. This was the second fatal accident of the space shuttle program following the Challenger disaster in 1986, and NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the disaster. Investigators found that a piece of foam had broken off of the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch. That chunk of foam hit the shuttle's left wing and damaged the heat shield, which ultimately led to the spacecraft's destruction.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03On February 1st, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia fell apart as it returned to Earth after spending more than two weeks in space.
00:10The accident instantly killed all seven astronauts on board.
00:14This was the second fatal accident of the space shuttle program following the Challenger disaster in 1986,
00:19and NASA suspended space shuttle flights for more than two years as it investigated the disaster.
00:24Investigators found that a piece of foam had broken off of the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch.
00:29That chunk of foam hit the shuttle's left wing and damaged the heat shield,
00:33which ultimately led to the spacecraft's destruction.
00:36And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:39NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology