A day of rememberance

It was five years ago today, at 9:01 AM on February 2, 2003 that the Space Shuttle Columbia (NASA Orbital Vehicle (ov) 102) fell into the normal radio blackout as it passed into entry-interface with the Earth's atmosphere. The protective heat tiles, used to shield the fragile orbiter from the heat caused by the extreme friction with the speeding atmosphere, failed and the left wing of the orbiter was burned off of the spacecraft. At a speed of nearly 25 times the speed of sound, the unbalanced spacecraft attempted to use it's space-borne retrothrusters to control its firey descent, but by then the left side of the spcaecraft was disintegrating. Columbia broke apart over the open fields of North Texas.

A little under a minute later, the seven astronauts in the hardened protective cabin, were also subjected to the immense forces of the thickening atmosphere as the crew cabin, too, finally failed and broke open.

None of the seven crew members survived the remaining unprotected 2 mile freefall at mach 10.

Today marks the end of a very tragic week for American Spaceflight, with January 27 being the anniversary of Apollo 1 and January 28 being the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger, I'd like to take a moment to remember these men and women who have given their lives to further our boundaries and push mankind into space, a noble and peaceful cause.

Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Command Pilot, Apollo 1
Edward H. White II, Senior Pilot, Apollo 1
Roger B. Chaffee, Pilot, Apollo 1

Francis "Dick" Scobee, Commander, Space Shuttle Challenger,
Michael J. Smith, Pilot, Space Shuttle Challenger
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist (MS1), Space Shuttle Challenger
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist (MS2), Space Shuttle Challenger
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist (MS3), Space Shuttle Challenger
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist (PS1), Space Shuttle Challenger
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Spaceflight Participant (Teacher in Space), (MS4), Space Shuttle Challenger

Rick D. Husband, Commander, Space Shuttle Columbia
William C. McCool, Pilot, Space Shuttle Columbia
David M. Brown, Mission Specialist (MS1), Space Shuttle Columbia,
Kalpana Chawla, Flight Engineer (FE1), Space Shuttle Columbia
Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander, Space Shuttle Columbia
Laurel B. Clark, Mission Specialist (MS2), Space Shuttle Columbia
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist (PS2) - col. Israeli Air Force, Space Shuttle Columbia

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