STS-107

STS-107
Spacehab's Research Double Module in Columbia's payload bay during STS-107
NamesSpace Transportation System-107
Mission typeMicrogravity research
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID2003-003A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.27647
Mission duration15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds
Distance travelled6,600,000 miles (10,600,000 km)
Orbits completed255
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSpace Shuttle Columbia
Launch mass263,706 pounds (119,615 kg)
Landing mass232,793 pounds (105,593 kg) (expected)
Payload mass32,084 pounds (14,553 kg)
Crew
Crew size7
Members
Start of mission
Launch dateJanuary 16, 2003 15:39:00 (2003-01-16UTC15:39Z) UTC
Launch siteKennedy, LC-39A
End of mission
Decay dateFebruary 1, 2003, 13:59:32 (2003-02-01UTC13:59:33Z) UTC
Disintegrated during reentry
Landing siteKennedy, SLF Runway 33 (planned)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Perigee altitude170 miles (270 km)
Apogee altitude177 miles (285 km)
Inclination39.0 degrees
Period90.1 minutes

STS-107 mission patch

Rear (L-R): David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon;
Front (L-R): Rick Husband, Kalpana Chawla, William McCool
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STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission ended on February 1, 2003, with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which killed all seven crew members and destroyed the space shuttle. It was the 88th post-Challenger disaster mission.

The flight launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003. It spent 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds in orbit. The crew conducted a multitude of international scientific experiments.[1] The disaster occurred during reentry while the orbiter was over Texas.

Immediately after the disaster, NASA convened the Columbia Accident Investigation Board to determine the cause of the disintegration. The source of the failure was determined to have been caused by a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system (reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles) on the leading edge of the orbiter's left wing. During re-entry the damaged wing slowly overheated and came apart, eventually leading to loss of control and disintegration of the vehicle. The cockpit window frame is now exhibited in a memorial inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis Pavilion at the Kennedy Space Center.

The damage to the thermal protection system on the wing was similar to that of Atlantis which had also sustained damage in 1988 during STS-27, the second mission after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. However, the damage on STS-27 occurred at a spot that had more robust metal (a thin steel plate near the landing gear), and that mission survived the re-entry.

  1. ^ "HSF - STS-107 Science". NASA. May 30, 2003. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2012.