Watch the Launch

Additional Media

RARE! Space shuttle Columbia Explosion footage

On February 1st, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry into the atmosphere. The seven astronauts were killed. 82 seconds after t...

Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster LIVE NASA TV

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

STS-107 Columbia's final launch (1-16-03)

STS-107, the final flight of the orbiter Columbia. January 16, 2003.

STS-107

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Human Exploration

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the disastrous final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003, and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds in orbit conducted a multitude of international scientific experiments.

Space Shuttle

Family:
Configuration:

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    56.1 m
  • Diameter
    8.0 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    2030.0 T
  • Thrust
    28200.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Space Shuttle
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Space Shuttle
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $450000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    27500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Space Shuttle Columbia


In-active Human Rated Crew On-board: 7 Crew Capacity: 7 Payload Capacity: 27500 kg
Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Serial Number: OV-102

Space Shuttle Columbia (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-102) was the first space-rated orbiter in NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. It launched for the first time on mission STS-1 on April 12, 1981, the first flight of the Space Shuttle program. Over 22 years of service, it completed 27 missions before disintegrating during re-entry near the end of its 28th mission, STS-107 on February 1, 2003, resulting in the deaths of all seven crew members.

Space Shuttle Details

Crew


Rick Husband

Commander - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: July 12, 1957
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

William C. McCool

Pilot - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Sept. 23, 1961
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

David M. Brown

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: April 16, 1956
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

Ilan Ramon

Payload Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( ISA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: June 20, 1954
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

Laurel Clark

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: March 10, 1961
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

Kalpana Chawla

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: March 17, 1962
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

Michael P. Anderson

Mission Specialist - configurations.Country.None - ( NASA )

Status: Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Dec. 28, 1959
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA)

Administrator: Bill Nelson Founded: 1958 Successes: 121 Failures: 20 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

INFO WIKI

Related News

Spaceflight Now

20 years after Columbia disaster, lessons learned still in sharp focus at NASA

Twenty years ago, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart high over Texas on the way to landing in Florida, killing a crew of seven astronauts in a tragedy with long-lasting consequences that still reverberate across the space program.

Arstechnica

Two decades after the Columbia disaster, is NASA’s safety culture fixed?

"We all know that to engineer is human."

NASA

NASA Observes Day of Remembrance Ahead of Columbia 20th Anniversary

The agency will honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, leading up to, and during, the agenc…

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Electron
Success
2 days, 8 hours ago
Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Launch of a yet to identified satellite to SSO for an undisclosed customer. The customer is suspected to be Low Earth Orbit communication satellite c…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 17 hours ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-31
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

31st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
Ionosfera-M 1 & 2
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

Ionosfera is a constellation of four ionospheric and magnetospheric research satellites developed by for Roscosmos for the project Ionozond. The s…


H3-22
Success
3 days, 12 hours ago
DSN 3 (Kirameki 3)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

DSN 3, also known as Kirameki 3, is a geostationary communications satellite to be used for military communications by the Japanese military.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 week ago
Kosmos 2579 (Bars-M No. 6)
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Payload identity uncertain. Bars-M is the second incarnation of the Bars project, which was started in the mid 1990ies to develop a success…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 10-13
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 9-9
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Shenzhou 19
Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Eighth crewed flight to the Chinese space station.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
Starlink Group 10-8
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
2 weeks ago
NROL-167
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fourth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office t…