STS-107
Report #19 
Saturday, February 1, 2003 - 7:00 p.m. CST 
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas 
 
The Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts were lost today when the 
vehicle broke up over north central Texas during its reentry from orbit.

Communications were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST, 
while the shuttle was traveling about 18 times the speed of sound at an altitude 
of 207,000 feet. Columbia was 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space 
Center when flight controllers at Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle. 
Columbia was returning from a 16-day scientific research mission, its 28th 
flight, which launched on January 16.

Aboard Columbia were Commander Rick Husband, completing his second flight, Pilot 
William McCool, wrapping up his first mission, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, 
also completing his first mission, Kalpana Chawla, on her second flight, Laurel 
Clark, a first-time space traveler, Payload Commander Mike Anderson, ending his 
second flight, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Israel Space Agency, on 
his first flight.

Prior to the loss of communications with Columbia, the shuttle's return to Earth 
appeared perfectly normal. After assessing some wispy fog near the shuttle's 
three-mile long landing strip at KSC before dawn, Entry Flight Director Leroy 
Cain gave approval for the firing of the shuttle's braking rockets to begin its 
descent from orbit.

Husband and McCool began the deorbit burn to allow Columbia to slip out of orbit 
at 7:15 a.m. CST. There was no indication of anything abnormal with Columbia's 
reentry until the last communications between Mission Control and the crew.

At Columbia's intended landing site, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and 
Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy met with the families of 
the astronauts to offer their condolences, vowed to uncover the cause of the 
accident and press ahead with the Shuttle program.

"This is indeed a tragic day for the NASA family, for the families of the 
astronauts who flew on STS-107, and likewise is tragic for the nation," 
said O'Keefe. 

"We have no indication that the mishap was caused by anything or anyone on the 
ground," O'Keefe added.

In a briefing, Chief Flight Director Milt Heflin said that around 7:53 a.m. CST, 
just minutes before communications were lost with Columbia, flight controllers 
detected indications of a loss of hydraulic system temperature measurements 
associated with Columbia's left wing, followed three minutes later by an 
increase in temperatures on the  left main gear tires and brakes. At 7:58 a.m., 
flight controllers noted a loss of bondline temperature sensor data in the area 
of the left wing followed a minute later by a loss of data on tire temperatures 
and pressures for the left inboard and outboard tires.

After several attempts to try to contact Columbia, Cain declared a contingency, 
whereby flight controllers began preserving documentation regarding the entry 
phase of the flight. Recovery forces fanned out from Texas to Louisiana to try 
to recover debris that will be pertinent to the mishap investigation.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore said several teams have been 
organized to gather data for analysis and will report to an external 
investigation board that was appointed by Administrator O'Keefe. Dittemore added 
that no specific orbiter debris or crew remains have been positively identified 
at this time, and that there is no leading theory for the cause of the accident.

Dittemore said the processing of other shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center for 
future launches has been temporarily halted to enable engineers to review data 
regarding vehicle processing and to focus attention on capturing all pertinent 
information involving Columbia's prelaunch preparations.

NASA managers will be meeting on a regular basis to begin reviewing data 
associated with Columbia's investigation. The next status briefing from the 
Johnson Space Center is tentatively scheduled from the Johnson Space Center, 
Houston, TX at 12:00 p.m. CST Sunday. It will be seen on NASA Television with 
two-way question and answer capability for reporters from NASA centers.

NASA TV can be found on AMC-2, Transponder 9C, vertical polarization at 85 
degrees West longitude, 3880 MHz, with audio at 6.8 MHz.

On the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight 
Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit were informed 
of the loss of Columbia and its crew shortly after a Russian Progress resupply 
vehicle undocked from the ISS. Filled with discarded items no longer needed on 
the ISS, the  Progress was commanded to deorbit by Russian flight controllers 
and reentered the Earth's atmosphere.

A new Progress cargo ship will be launched Sunday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 
in Kazakhstan at 6:59 a.m. CST (1259 GMT) filled with supplies for the 
Expedition 6 crew. It is scheduled to dock to the ISS Tuesday morning. ISS 
program officials say, if necessary, the current resident crew could remain in 
orbit until late June with the supplies being ferried to the station on the new 
Progress.