A final determination, according to a source, was that it was a piece of Columbia's carbon-carbon leading edge. The Air Force and SSN analysts worked closely with Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) specialists, all focused on understanding the object's makeup and attempting to tag likely materials that had the right density. The item was never given a satellite catalogue number since it decayed before its discovery. 20, disintegrating as it fell down through Earth's atmosphere. Best estimates are that the Flight Day 2 object decayed from orbit on Jan.

With radar information on hand concerning the object's size, and measurements of how quickly it decayed in Earth orbit, analysts could tell it was something with the dimensions of a notebook computer. Investigators hoped to see if the object departed the orbiter at high velocity, indicating a possible collision, or if it came off at low velocity, signifying something drifting away, perhaps out of Columbia's cargo bay.įEMA official surveys shuttle debris along with the Columbia Accident Investigation Board near Nacogdoches, Texas. Aiding in this identification was the fact that Columbia had been in a unique orbit, for not only the shuttle but virtually any other satellite, so there wasn't much else in the orbit.Īfter noting the Day 2 object, researchers began an investigation to determine the object's separation velocity and its time of release from Columbia. Indeed, that team did find some observations and noted there was another piece of debris in orbit with Columbia starting on Day 2 of its flight. That team and SSN operators went back after Columbia's demise to see if there had been any serendipitous observations taken the orbiter during its mission by accident, among the wealth of photos of the sky during that period. Army, Navy and Air Force-operated ground-based radars and optical sensors. In post-disaster work, an Air Force Space Command Space Analysis Center team worked with the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a worldwide system of U.S. Air Force)Ī number of experts who studied the loss of Columbia and its crew shared their theories on the cause of the Flight Day 2 incident with .Įarly on, experts had thought that perhaps a piece of orbital debris hit the shuttle. 28, four days before Columbia's re-entry, as the spacecraft flew above the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing (AMOS) site on Jan. Image of space shuttle Columbia in orbit during mission STS-107 were taken by the U.S. The breakup was primarily mechanical, due to localized heating that occurred earlier in the re-entry process. Superheated air entered the leading-edge insulation and progressively melted the aluminum structure of the left wing, until increasing aerodynamic forces led to loss of control, failure of the wing and disintegration of the orbiter.įrom a re-entry standpoint, Columbia broke up very late, at a low altitude, roughly 30 to 35 miles (50 to 55 kilometers) above Earth, where heating had almost ceased.

That left-wing damage permitted the penetration of hot, re-entry gases, which led to the loss of Columbia and its crew.

Analysts estimated that a hole as small as 10 inches (25 cm) across could have caused the orbiter to be destroyed on re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. That foam strike punctured a hole in the RCC panel roughly 16 inches (41 centimeters) by 16 inches. The CAIB made the final conclusion that the foam-shedding incident on Columbia's takeoff affected panel 8 of the RCC heat-shielding, which was located on the orbiter's leading edge. It was set adrift after the orbiter reached space. A team of experts concluded that the departing piece had been lodged within the left wing by aerodynamic forces on Columbia's liftoff. The Flight Day 2 object, according to a source then working with the CAIB to help discern the cause of the Columbia calamity, was a fragment of the RCC panel on the orbiter's wing. That AFSPC procedure was later corrected. 16, 2003, with Columbia's crew settling into its mission, an object roughly the size of a notebook computer drifted away from the orbiter out into space.Īccording to a source that asked not to be named, 'due to a procedural issue' the object was not recognized during Columbia’s 16-day mission by the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). (Image credit: NASA/CAIB)Ībout a day after launch on Jan. Scott Hubbard, Columbia Accident Investigation Board member, inspects damaged Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panel #8 following test.

Columbia space shuttle disaster