Click2Disasters - Columbia Disaster - Columbia's Last Launch - Chapter 8

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>COLUMBIA DISASTER</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 8 - <i>COLUMBIA'S </i> LAST LAUNCH</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">The weather at Kennedy Space Station was perfect for the launch of mission STS-107 on January 16, 2003. As the complicated <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/stsover-launch.html#stsover-launch" target="_blank"><b>launch procedures</b></a> moved ahead, the <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0046.jpg" target="_blank"><b>commander</b></a>, <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0047.jpg" target="_blank"><b>pilot</b></a> and <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0048.jpg" target="_blank"><b>crew</b></a> <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0054.jpg" target="_blank"><b>arrived</b></a> for final preparations, <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0098.jpg" target="_blank"><b>breakfast</b></a> and <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0065.jpg" target="_blank"><b>suiting up</b></a>.</p> <p>At 9:18 a.m. EST, a “go” was given to close the hatch. Various “holds” are “planned” into the countdown sequence to make sure all is well, but at 10:10 a.m. EST, the countdown clock exited the planned hold at the “T-minus twenty minute” mark. All systems looked good. The shuttle’s <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-02PD-0976.jpg" target="_blank"><b>payload bay doors</b></a> were already closed. The countdown moved ahead.</p> <p>At 10:31 a.m. EST, the countdown clock came out of the planned hold at the “T-minus 9 minute” mark. Columbia’s launch window (the time frame wherein she must liftoff or scrub the mission for the planned launch day) was 2 hours and 30 minutes.</p> <p>At 10:35 a.m. EST, a “go” was given to start the <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts-apu.html#sts-apu" target="_blank"><b>auxiliary power units</b></a>. As the countdown continued to “<a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/count.html#T-00H00M" target="_blank"><b>T-0</b></a>,” (scroll to the end to see what is happening at this stage of the countdown), all systems were in order. It looked as though <i>Columbia</i> would <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0131.jpg" target="_blank"><b>blast</b></a> into space at the beginning of her launch window.</p> <p>“<a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/movies/sts-107-launch.rm" target="_blank"><b>Liftoff</b></a> of the space shuttle <i>Columbia</i>” (follow the link to watch the movie) occurred at 10:39 a.m. EST. It was a <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0128.jpg" target="_blank"><b>spectacular</b></a> launch as the shuttle <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0130.jpg" target="_blank"><b>left</b></a> Florida, traveling <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0129.jpg" target="_blank"><b>upwards</b></a> into the brilliantly blue sky.</p> <p>At 80 seconds <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-03PD-0127.jpg" target="_blank"><b>into the flight</b></a>, however, a huge piece of hardened foam insulation (estimated at 20 inches long, weighing about 2</font></font><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3"> 1</font><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">/2 pounds) broke away from the external tank and struck the shuttle’s left wing. In “real time,” no one knew that had happened. It wasn’t until the next day, as mission controllers reviewed the launch video, that the event was spotted. By then, both the crew and the shuttle may have been doomed.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="columbia_disaster_ch7.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="columbia_disaster_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="columbia_disaster_ch9.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>