By: History.com Editors

2003

Columbia Space Shuttle mission ends in disaster

History.com Editors

The space shuttle Columbia, with a five member crew aboard, lifts off for the ninth time as STS-32 begins a 10-day mission in Earth orbit.

HUM Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images

Published: November 13, 2009

Last Updated: January 24, 2025

On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia breaks up while entering the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven crew members on board.

The Columbia‘s 28th space mission, designated STS-107, was originally scheduled to launch on January 11, 2001, but was delayed numerous times for a variety of reasons over nearly two years. Columbia finally launched on January 16, 2003, with a crew of seven. Eighty seconds into the launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the shuttle’s propellant tank and hit the edge of the shuttle’s left wing.

The Challenger Explosion

On January 28, 1986, the tenth mission of the space shuttle Challenger ended in tragic disaster. We remember the seven astronauts who lost their lives that day, including Christa McAuliffe, who was chosen by NASA to pioneer its Teacher in Space program.

Cameras focused on the launch sequence revealed the foam collision but engineers could not pinpoint the location and extent of the damage. Although similar incidents had occurred on three prior shuttle launches without causing critical damage, some engineers at the space agency believed that the damage to the wing could cause a catastrophic failure. Their concerns were not addressed in the two weeks that Columbia spent in orbit because NASA management believed that even if major damage had been caused, there was little that could be done to remedy the situation.

Columbia reentered the earth’s atmosphere on the morning of February 1. It wasn’t until 10 minutes later, at 8:53 a.m.–as the shuttle was 231,000 feet above the California coastline traveling at 23 times the speed of sound–that the first indications of trouble began. Because the heat-resistant tiles covering the left wing’s leading edge had been damaged or were missing, wind and heat entered the wing and blew it apart.

The space shuttle Columbia, with a seven-member crew aboard, soars toward a nine-day mission devoted to life sciences research.

The space shuttle Columbia, with a seven-member crew aboard, soars toward a nine-day mission devoted to life sciences research.

HUM Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images

The space shuttle Columbia, with a seven-member crew aboard, soars toward a nine-day mission devoted to life sciences research.

The space shuttle Columbia, with a seven-member crew aboard, soars toward a nine-day mission devoted to life sciences research.

HUM Images / Universal Images Group / Getty Images

The first debris began falling to the ground in west Texas near Lubbock at 8:58 a.m. One minute later, the last communication from the crew was heard, and at 9 a.m. the shuttle disintegrated over northeast Texas, near Dallas. Residents in the area heard a loud boom and saw streaks of smoke in the sky. Debris and the remains of the crew were found in more than 2,000 locations across East Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Making the tragedy even worse, two pilots aboard a search helicopter were killed in a crash while looking for debris. Strangely, worms that the crew had used in a study that were stored in a canister aboard the Columbia did survive.

In August 2003, an investigation board issued a report that revealed that it in fact would have been possible either for the Columbia crew to repair the damage to the wing or for the crew to be rescued from the shuttle. The Columbia could have stayed in orbit until February 15 and the already planned launch of the shuttle Atlantis could have been moved up as early as February 10, leaving a short window for repairing the wing or getting the crew off of the Columbia.

In the aftermath of the Columbia disaster, the space shuttle program was grounded until July 16, 2005, when the space shuttle Discovery was put into orbit.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on February 1st

1790

First session of the U.S. Supreme Court

In the Royal Exchange Building on New York City’s Broad Street, the Supreme Court of the United States meets for the first time, with Chief Justice John Jay of New York presiding.

1884

Oxford Dictionary debuts

February 1, 1884: The first portion, or fascicle, of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, is published. Today, the OED is the definitive authority on the meaning, pronunciation and history of over half a million English words, past and present

Oxford English Dictionary

1887

Official registration of Hollywood

On February 1, 1887, Harvey Wilcox officially registers Hollywood with the Los Angeles County recorder’s office.

1896

Puccini’s “La Bohème” premieres in Turin, Italy

On February 1, 1896, Giacomo Puccini's [La Bohème](http://one of the opera world's most beloved classics) premieres at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy. It would go on to become one of the opera world's most enduring, and beloved, classics.

1913

Multi-sport star Jim Thorpe signs MLB contract with Giants

On February 1, 1913, 25-year-old multi-sport star Jim Thorpe—who won two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics—signs a Major League Baseball contract with the New York Giants. The signing comes on the same day Thorpe returns his Olympic medals to Sweden for a violation of amateur rules. Years earlier, he was paid to play minor league baseball.

1917

Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare

On February 1, 1917, the lethal threat of the German U-boat submarine raises its head again, as Germany returns to the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare it had previously suspended in response to pressure from the United States and other neutral countries.

1960

Greensboro sit-in begins

On February 1, 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina, four Black college students spark a nationwide civil rights movement by refusing to leave a “whites-only” lunch counter at a popular retail store after they are denied service. The North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State students—Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil and David Richmond—become known as the “Greensboro Four.”

Demonstrators line the counter at the F.W. Woolworth Co.

1961

“The Misfits” opens in theaters

The Misfits, a flawed but moving meditation on the vanishing spirit of western independence, opens in theaters on February 1, 1961.

1968

Nixon announces his candidacy for president

Richard M. Nixon announces his candidacy for the presidency. Most observers had written off Nixon’s political career eight years earlier, when he had lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election.

1968

Viet Cong officer is shot in the head; iconic photo taken

Saigon, South Vietnam was a chaotic and bloody place in the winter of 1968. On January 30, North Vietnamese forces struck suddenly and with shocking force at targets throughout the South, taking the South Vietnamese and their American allies by surprise and turning the tide of a war that President Lyndon Johnson had assured his people they were close to winning. As the reeling South Vietnamese army worked to re-establish order in their capital, an American photographer captured an image that would come to symbolize the brutality of the conflict.

1974

Serial killer Ted Bundy strikes again

On February 1, 1974, University of Washington student Lynda Ann Healy disappears from her apartment and is killed by Ted Bundy. The murder marked Bundy’s entry into the ranks of serial killers as he had recently attacked his first victim, Sharon Clarke, in her Seattle home. By the time he was finally captured on February 15, 1978, Bundy had become America’s most famous serial killer.

Serial Murderer Theodore "Ted" Bundy walks forward and waves to TV camera as his indictment for the January murders of Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman is read at the Leon County Jail.

1978

Harriet Tubman becomes the first African American woman to appear on a U.S. postage stamp

February 1, 1978: Antislavery crusader and Civil War veteran Harriet Tubman becomes the first African American woman to appear on a U.S. postage stamp, the first in the Post Office's Black Heritage Series. Tubman's appearance on stamps was emblematic both of the progress made in recognizing African Americans' contributions to American history and of the ongoing effort to put abolitionists on equal footing with slaveowners in the nation's historical canon.

1979

Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran

On February 1, 1979, the Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran in triumph after 15 years of exile. The shah and his family had fled the country two weeks before, and jubilant Iranian revolutionaries were eager to establish a fundamentalist Islamic government under Khomeini’s leadership.

2002

Journalist Daniel Pearl is murdered

On February 1, 2002, 38-year-old American journalist Daniel Pearl, the Southeast Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, is murdered by a terror group in Pakistan. Weeks later, a videotape of Pearl’s beheading was released, shocking millions and underscoring the threat of terrorism less than a year after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

2004

“Nipplegate” controversy at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show

A singularly sensational event occurs during the halftime show of the Super Bowl on February 1, 2004. While performing a duet with Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake briefly exposed one of her breasts in what was later described as a "wardrobe malfunction."

2013

“House of Cards,” Netflix’s first original series, starts streaming

In February of 2013, Netflix introduced "[House of Cards](http://In February of 2013, Netflix introduced House of Cards, the first major TV show that ran exclusively on a streaming service. It was another Netflix innovation that would alter the media landscape.)," the first major TV show that ran exclusively on a streaming service. It was a Netflix innovation that would alter the media landscape.

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Citation Information

Article title
Columbia Space Shuttle mission ends in disaster
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 24, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 24, 2025
Original Published Date
November 13, 2009

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