From the archives: 7 astronauts killed on space shuttle Columbia

This story was originally published in Newsday on February 2, 2003

The space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames over Texas yesterday morning as it streaked through a bright blue sky toward a Florida landing about 15 minutes away. All seven crew members, including an Israeli astronaut, were killed.

"The Columbia is lost," a somber President George W. Bush said in a brief statement after telephoning the families of the crew who had gathered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for what was to be a joyous homecoming for the astronauts after a 16-day science mission. Bush vowed that the space program would go on.

The cause of the catastrophic breakup is unknown, although early speculation focused on a chunk of debris that struck the craft's left wing at liftoff on Jan. 16. The debris, a piece of insulation foam from the shuttle's large disposable fuel tank, could have damaged some of the craft's protective thermal tiles, analysts said.

A first sign of trouble yesterday occurred when some sensors in the left wing - the same that was struck by the debris - abruptly stopped operating. But it was not clear whether there is a connection, officials said.

An administration official was quick to say that there was no indication that terrorism was involved in the accident, but added that the government was still investigating the circumstances.

The tragedy transfixed the nation, recalling disturbing memories of the Jan. 28, 1986, loss of the shuttle Challenger, which exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, also killing a crew of seven, including teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. The Columbia crew had observed the anniversary of the Challenger disaster while they were in orbit.

"The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today," Bush said. "The crew of Columbia did not return safely to Earth but we can pray they are safely home." He ordered flags at all federal facilities to be flown at half-staff until Wednesday.

Video of the Columbia disintegration showed a bright flash followed by white smoke plumes streaking across the sky. Among eyewitnesses were space buffs poised to monitor the successful end of the 16-day flight.

Scott Lieberman was waiting in his backyard in Tyler, Texas. "It was right on schedule as it came over the horizon," said Lieberman, 41. But "it looked a little atypical." It wasn't clear what he had seen until minutes later, when he and his family went inside to watch the landing on TV.

Emergency management workers found human remains and debris throughout a forested area of "many thousands of acres" in eastern Texas, according to Billy Smith, emergency management coordinator for Jasper, Newton and Sabine counties.

Authorities found them after receiving calls from residents there, starting about 9:15 a.m. EST and continuing throughout the day, he said. "A large body part" was found in Hemphill along with other human remains and widespread debris, Smith said. He said FBI agents were taking the remains to the medical examiner's office in Lufkin. More than most shuttle missions, Columbia's flight was international, carrying natives of three nations and scientific experiments from 16, and its loss was mourned worldwide. The crew "gave their lives to conquering the dangers of space in the name of peace, science and progress of civilization," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of countless leaders who sent condolences.

The hostile politics of the Middle East yielded declarations of celebration in Iraq, whose nuclear complex was bombed in 1981 by the shuttle's Israeli crew member, air force Col. Ilan Ramon.

Chief NASA flight director Milt Heflin and shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore said it is much too soon to say if the debris that struck the shuttle's left wing and the subsequent sensor problems are connected and part of a chain of events that led to disaster. "As we look at that now in hindsight, we can't discount that there might be a connection," Dittemore said yesterday. "But we have to caution that we can't rush to judgment, because a lot of things in this business that look like the smoking gun ... turn out not to be close."

NASA officials and several outside analysts remained skeptical that the lightweight foam could have caused enough damage to tiles to cause the catastrophe. NASA engineers had discussed the debris incident during the mission and concluded it was not a safety threat.

But agency officials said yesterday there were some indications of problems along the left wing of the shuttle - the same side struck by the foam debris - as the craft completed a roll maneuver at an altitude of about 207,000 feet during maximum re-entry heating of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Several temperature sensors in the left wing stopped operating, as did sensors for tire temperatures and pressures for the landing gear, according to Heflin.The task of learning what happened will be not easy, given that the craft broke apart at high altitude traveling more than 18 times the speed of sound. Debris was scattered along a large "footprint" of northeast Texas, near the town of Nacogdoches, and in western Louisiana, , and many pieces recovered were quite small.

The Federal Aviation Administration restricted flights in an area of western Louisiana and eastern Texas 40 miles wide and 160 miles long, where much of the debris was believed to be concentrated.

"Some evidence may have burned up at re-entry," Dittemore said. "Some evidence may be spread over such a wide territory that we may never find it."

Columbia had been launched two weeks earlier under unprecedented security, partly due to the presence of Ramon. In addition to Ramon, the crew included Air Force Col. Rick Husband, the commander; Navy Cmdr. William McCool, the pilot; Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, payload commander; Kalpana Chawla, an aerospace engineer; and Navy doctors David M. Brown and Laurel Salton Clark.

The disaster was another setback for NASA, which is sure to face a repeat of the intense scrutiny it received after the Challenger disaster, analysts said. But, they said, it is possible Congress and the public may be more willing this time to accept the tragedy as one of unavoidable risks of space flight. "I think we're more mature in the sense of understanding that this is a risky business," said John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University.

In addition to NASA's own investigation, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe said a panel of experts from other federal agencies and the military had been named to do outside accident investigation in addition to the internal NASA probe.

NASA had flown 87 shuttle flights successfully after a 2 1/2-year hiatus after the Challenger disaster to redesign the faulty booster rocket joint and do exhaustive tests.

But technology was not the only culprit in the Challenger disaster. The NASA organization was faulted by a presidential investigation commission, which criticized the agency's "silent safety program" that allowed problems with the booster joint to be accepted.

Diane Vaughan, a Boston College sociologist who wrote a book on the decision-making prior to the ill-fated Challenger launch, said it will be important for investigators to look for any organization failures within NASA this time as well. "I do think they would be remiss not to take the context of these technical missions into account," Vaughan said, including budget and schedule pressures.

Even after a series of shuttle equipment and safety upgrades, including more than 200 soon after the Challenger loss, flying the shuttle remains an extremely risky business, a point that top NASA officials have repeatedly stressed. Even with the equipment changes, risk analyses still put the odds of a catastrophic loss of a shuttle during launch at about 1 in 450.

Some analysts and NASA's own panel of outside safety advisers have raised questions also about other stresses on the space program, including impact of budget-driven job cuts in the shuttle program in recent years, cuts the agency said it has been taking steps to reverse.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, created by Congress after the Apollo spacecraft fire during a launch- pad test in 1967 that killed three astronauts, warned in a report last year that, despite what it called NASA's high level of safety consciousness since Challenger, "the panel's safety concerns have never been greater."

Because of budget cutbacks, it said, the space agency had been diverting money meant for long-term safety upgrades into day-to-day shuttle operations instead. Some ready-to-install safety upgrades have been delayed, the panel said, including improvements in cockpit electronics, new sensors to monitor the performance of the craft's main engines, and increases in the separation distance between critical electrical wires and their redundant backups.

The space agency may not have the luxury of a two-year hiatus in flight this time. The shuttle is a key to building, supplying and maintaining the International Space Station now on orbit with a crew of three. The outpost has a Russian-built Soyuz capsule attached as an escape vehicle in case of emergencies.

Columbia's Crew - A look at those aboard yesterday's tragic fight.

Rick D. Husband: Commander colonel Air Force Born July 12, 1957 Amarillo, Texas Married, two children, astronaut since 1994, previous mission on STS-96 Discovery 1999.

Dr. Laurel Clark: Mission specialist Commander, Navy Born In Iowa, Married, one child Astronaut since 1996, first space mission.

William C. McCool, Pilot Commander, Navy, Born Sept. 23 1961, San Diego, Married, astronaut since 1996, first space mission

Michael Anderson, Payload commander Lieutenant colonel, Air Force, Born Dec. 25, 1959 Plattsburgh, N.Y. Married, astronaut since 1994, previous mission to Russia Mir space station in 1998.

David M. Brown, Mission specialist Captain , Navy Born April 16, 1956 Arlington, Va. Astronaut since 1996, first space mission.

Kalpana Chawla, Mission specialist Aerospace engineer Karnal, India Astronaut since 1994 , previous mission as robatic arm operator on STS-87, 1997.

Ilan Ramon, Payload specialist Colonel, Israel Air Force Born June 20, 1954 Tel Aviv, married, four children Astronaut since 1997, first space mission.