Following its return to Earth after a 16-day space mission, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on its journey back into the Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003. All seven crew members were killed. Take a look back at the tragedy, its aftermath and the mourning of a nation.
The Space Shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-107, first launched on Jan. 16, 2003, at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. This mission marked the ship’s 28th journey into space, having been delayed for over two years prior to takeoff.
The Space Shuttle Columbia crew included (clockwise from lower left) Pilot William McCool, India-raised Kalpana Chawla, Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli to travel on the space shuttle, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Mission Commander Rick Husband. This was Chawla’s second space mission and Husband’s second stint piloting a NASA shuttle.
On Feb. 1, 2003, after two weeks and two days in space, the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas and Louisiana following its return back into Earth’s atmosphere. All seven crew members were killed. During the ship’s initial launch, a piece of foam struck the shuttle’s left wing after breaking off from the external tank. While the damage was tended to at the time, the lack of action proved fatal. Atmospheric gases got inside the wing through the damaged portion and eventually broke the ship apart.
The death of the Space Shuttle Columbia’s crew members caused nationwide mourning, with many makeshift memorials popping up around the country. Here, Texas residents Cynthia Smith, right, and daughter Samantha Gonter embrace beside a makeshift memorial at the entrance to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas on the night of the tragedy.
President George W. Bush addressed the country shortly after 2 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2003, five hours after the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated. “These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity,” he said. “These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.” He was later seen standing quietly in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington following his televised response.
The front page of the Daily News on Feb. 2, 2003, depicted debris from the space shuttle falling over Texas and Louisiana.
Kara Magaw, a friend of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon’s son, cries at the main gate of the Johnson Space Center after bringing memorial items for the family and crew of space shuttle Columbia in Houston, Texas on Feb. 2, 2003, a day after the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy.
Steve Anderson kneels beside a makeshift memorial to the space shuttle Columbia astronauts outside the gates of Houston’s Johnson Space Center on Feb. 1, 2003 in Texas.
Following the destruction of the space shuttle, thousands of pieces of debris were found around Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Volunteers rallied for the recovery process, which included stumbling upon human remains, including a torso, an arm and a human heart.
Vehicles drive slowly by a piece of what is believed to be debris from the space shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003, in the median on State Road 155 north of Palestine, Texas.
Indian residents living in a slum gather in front of a television set to watch the news about the Space Shuttle Columbia in Bombay, India on Feb. 1, 2003. Dr. Kalpana Chawla was born and raised in the city of Karnal in Punjab before moving to the U.S in 1982.
Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, left, astronaut Kalpana Chawla and Commander Rick Husband listen to astronaut Laurel Clark talk about the “music” created in zero gravity during a televised interview from Columbia’s flight deck on Jan. 18, 2003. Clark talked about how things hit each other and music is created in one of the interviews the crew gave from space prior to their deaths.
Shuttle mission specialist Dr. Kalpana Chawla stores supplies aboard the shuttle Columbia on Jan. 29, 2003. It was the crew’s thirteenth day in space. Their round-the-clock laboratory research mission featured more than 80 experiments.
Shuttle payload specialist Ilan Ramon maneuvers aboard the shuttle Columbia on Jan. 30, 2003. Ramon had said the previous day that viewing the world from space made him realize how fragile the planet is and how important it is to strive for peace in the Middle East.
Debris from the space shuttle Columbia streaks across the sky over Tyler, Texas on Feb. 1, 2003. Amateur photographer Dr. Scott Lieberman shot a series of photos showing the break-up of the space shuttle from his backyard in Tyler early that morning.
