STS-107 (Columbia)

An international microgravity research flight, Columbia carried seven people and 70 experiments to space. It marked the first time an Israeli flew to space. More than 80% of all science experiment data was transmitted to the ground during the 16-day mission. Columbia reentered the atmosphere on February 1st, 2003, and broke apart 63 km over north-central Texas just 16 minutes before landing. All seven crewmember lost their lives. This was the 28th and final flight of Columbia. The accident was traced to a foam liberation event from the External Tank during launch that struck Columbia's left wing, blowing a 0.4 x 0.4-meter hole in critical thermal protection panels on the wing's leading edge -- the part of the Space Shuttle that receives the most intense heating during reentry. After launch, NASA managers believed the debris strike would be a maintenance issue on the ground. The hole in Columbia's wing allowed superheated plasma to melt her airframe during reentry. Just over 30% of Columbia survived and was recovered by search teams, including the remains of her crew. Miraculously no one was injured or killed on the ground, despite Columbia's massive engines landing in east Texas. While searching for debris, recovery teams found a worm enclosure flown on Columbia in tact; the worms were still alive and are to this day the only living things to survive atmospheric reentry without full protection from a heat shield. During a 22-year career, Columbia spent 300 days in space, traveled 125,204,911 km, and carried 160 crewmembers.

The first reusable launch and landing spacecraft, the Space Shuttle began a new chapter of human space exploration. It launched like a rocket but landed on a runway like a plane. Shuttle crews deployed dozens of commercial satellites and two interplanetary probes to Venus and Jupiter. The Shuttle served as a mini space station and hosted hundreds of biomedical, psychological, physiological, materials science, and physics experiments that have directly benefited life on Earth. The five flight-worthy Shuttles -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions over 30 years. The Shuttles helped construct the Russian Mir space station and brought nearly 80% of the International Space Station to orbit. Shuttles also deployed and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space Shuttle

Thirteen Sprague-Dawley Rats

United States of America

NASA

This astronaut gave their life in the pursuit of space exploration.

Memorial

This astronaut crossed the Kármán Line (100 km), the internationally accepted boundary of space.

Crossed Kármán Line

This astronaut has spent over a month in space.

Space Resident

STS-87 (Columbia)

This science mission saw the first spacewalk performed by a Japanese astronaut and continued spacewalk testing of construction and maintenance procedures for the upcoming International Space Station.

Kalpana Chawla

STS-89 (Endeavour)

This mission was the eighth time a Space Shuttle docked to Mir, and was Endeavour's only visit to the Russian space station, delivering a new NASA crewmember to the outpost.

Michael P. Anderson

STS-96 (Discovery)

This flight was a resupply mission of Discovery to stockpile the International Space Station with equipment. The flight delivered parts of the Russian STRELA crane to the Station.

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