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HT This Day: February 02, 2003 -- Kalpana Chawla, 6 other astronauts die
The US space shuttle Columbia, with India-born Kalpana Chawla among a seven-member crew, disintegrated in flames over Texas 16 minutes before it was to land on Saturday morning at the end of a 16-day mission
The US space shuttle Columbia, with India-born Kalpana Chawla among a seven-member crew, disintegrated in flames over Texas 16 minutes before it was to land on Saturday morning at the end of a 16-day mission.
Officials in Washington said that there was no immediate indication of terrorism. A senior U.S. official said there was no threat made against the flight and that the shuttle was out of range of a surface-to-air missile.
Columbia was at an altitude of 200,700 feet over north-central Texas at around 8 am central time (7:30 pm IST), travelling at 12,500 mph when the NASA mission control lost voice and radar contact.
The spacecraft had reentered the atmosphere and according to video images, was descending at a severe trajectory. In north Texas, people reported hearing a “big bang” around the same time, some saying it was like a “sonic boom”.
Television footage showed a bright light followed by smoke plumes streaking diagonally through the sky Debris appeared to break off into separate balls of light as it continued downward.
Janet Smith-Bozart, who was driving near Dallas, described the shuttle’s descent. “I thought at first it might be a meteor coming into the atmosphere and then I realised it was much too big and much too slow for that,” she said. “Essentially the entire thing just broke apart and the whole thing just disappeared. ... Eventually it just sort of faded and there was no more contrail or anything.”
NASA declared an emergency and sent search teams to the Dallas-Fort Worth area where much of the debris had landed, and warned residents not to touch the “hazardous” debris. Six Americans were on board, including commander Rick Husband and Chawla, both of whom were the only ones with space flight experience. Columbia’s crew had completed 80 plus scientific research experiments during their time in orbit.
Security had been extraordinarily tight for Columbia’s 16-day scientific research mission because of the presence of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut.
It was the 113th flight in the shuttle programme’s 22 years and the 28th flight for Columbia, NASA oldest shuttle. In 42 years of U.S. human space flight, there had never been an accident during the descent to Earth or landing. On Jan.28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff.
