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The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster: Causes and Aftermath

  On February 1, 2003, excitement from onlookers turned to horror as debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia was spotted plummeting back to Earth. Of the seven astronauts on board, there were no survivors.  Just an hour and a half after the disaster occurred, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) was formed to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident. Frequent press releases from the CAIB documented their findings, as increased transparency was one of the main goals of the board. Recovery of debris was an arduous task, as pieces of the shuttle were found from Texas all the way to Louisiana. After examination of the recovered components, it was concluded that damage to the left wing was the cause of the disaster. Around 81 seconds after Columbia’s liftoff, a piece of foam used to insulate the external fuel tank broke off and struck the shuttle’s left wing.  The impact was strong enough to punch a hole in the thermal soaking protective layer, meant to prot...
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Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Draft

           On February 1, 2003, excitement from onlookers turned to horror as debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia was spotted plummeting back to Earth. Of the seven astronauts on board, there were no survivors.  Just an hour and a half after the disaster occurred, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) was formed to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident. Frequent press releases from the CAIB documented their findings, as increased transparency was one of the main goals of the board. Recovery of debris was an arduous task, as pieces of the shuttle were found from Texas all the way to Louisiana. After examination of the recovered components, it was concluded that damage to the left wing was the cause of the disaster. Around 81 seconds after Columbia’s liftoff, a piece of foam used to insulate the external fuel tank broke off and struck the shuttle’s left wing. The impact was strong enough to punch a hole in the thermal soaking pro...
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Nicholas Hannah Blog Post 2

  Nicholas Hannah Blog Post 2 1.)   Title, date, and URL: On a Mission. Season 4, episode 3: Rise of the Twins: Spirit and Opportunity. Published February 16 th , 2022. Episode 3: Rise of the Twins: Spirit and Opportunity | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)   2.)   Topic: The topic of this podcast is the twin mars rovers: Spirit and Opportunity, launched in 2003. This episode outlines the historical importance of the two rovers and how they bolstered American spirit in the aftermath of the September 11 th attacks. Cuffs fashioned from metal of the World Trade Center, memorials to those lost in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, and the names of many Americans inscribed in a cd.   3.)   Interview: Interviewer Ellie Mckay speaks with NASA engineer Matt Wallace (now Director for Planetary Science), who was in NASA for several years before working on the rovers. Following the failures of the Mars climate orbiter, Mars polar lander, and s...
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Nicholas Hannah Blog Post 1

For this reflection, I decided to listen to the oral history interview of Fountain Hughes, interviewed by Hermond Norwood. This 29 minute long interview was recorded on June 11th, 1949, and is digitally preserved by the Library of Congress. Hughes was born into slavery before the American Civil War and recounts his experiences working for a slaver in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the time of this interview, he was an astounding 101 years old. He was emancipated from slavery during the Civil War and recounted the lack of resources given to newly freed people during reconstruction. “After we got freed and they turned us out like cattle, we could, we didn't have nowhere to go. And we didn't have nobody to boss us, and, uh, we didn't know nothing. There wasn't, wasn't no schools.”, says Hughes. He also remembers how the cost of labor changed with the abolition of slavery. It is extremely interesting to me what he chooses to talk about. A decent portion of the interview ...
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