Untitled Document

02 January 2004

The Columbia disaster, one of the biggest science stories of 2003

by Forrest M. Mims III

Many stories related to science made the news in 2003. Stories about health and the environment were especially big. One of the biggest science-related news stories was about a disaster that occurred high in the sky over East Texas on a clear Saturday morning last February 1.

A National Weather Service radar captured the debris field caused by the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia over East Texas on February 1, 2003. Click image to enlarge.

The space shuttle Challenger was returning to Earth after one of the most important shuttle scientific missions in years. Unknown to the ground controllers and the astronauts, a large fragment of foam insulation that struck the leading edge of the shuttle's wing had caused serious damage. As the shuttle reentered the atmosphere over California, hot gasses entered the damaged wing. Observers on the ground watching the glowing shuttle streak high overhead before dawn noticed bright objects falling away from the spacecraft.

Shortly after Challenger passed south of Dallas the ship began to tumble and breakup while moving 18 times faster than the speed of sound. All seven astronauts were killed.

The destruction was so thorough that the remains of the craft formed a debris field 160 miles long and 40 miles wide from near Nacogdoches, Texas, to Alexandria, Louisiana. In Columbia's cargo bay was a multi-million dollar research module 20 feet long, 14 feet wide and 11 feet high. The module was pulverized, along with some 80 sophisticated science experiments.

President Bush announced to the Nation, "Columbia's lost. There are no survivors."

Four days before the disaster, Columbia's crew had paused to honor the memory of the seven astronauts who were lost January 28, 1986. That morning the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center and began a graceful arch out over the Atlantic Ocean atop an enormous plume of smoke.

Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, there was an explosion. Challenger disintegrated some 200,000 feet above the ocean, nearly the same altitude as the Columbia breakup. All seven members of her crew were lost. Just as the Challenger disaster didn't stop the Columbia crew, there will always be brave men and women willing to undertake the risks of entering space.

The final Columbia flight was a rare science mission during a time when space shuttle science had taken a back seat to the construction of the International Space Station. Important questions remain about the scientific value of manned space flight.

At $10,000 a pound to reach orbit, sending people into space is enormously expensive. Yet flying into space has immense national significance, especially now that the Chinese have sent a man into orbit and back. Manned spaceflight will continue. Hopefully its scientific potential will also continue.

Forrest M. Mims III and his science are featured online at www.forrestmims.org.

This feature was originally published in Forrest Mims's weekly science column in the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise, Seguin, Texas. The column is written for a general audience.