Sandra Day O'Connor

NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia

• Columbia was a Space Shuttle orbiter operated by NASA from 1981 until the 2003 disaster.

• It was named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the upper North American Pacific coast and the female personification of the United States.

• Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space.

• It retained unique features indicative of its experimental design compared to later orbiters.

• During its 22 years of operation, Columbia was flown on 28 missions in the Space Shuttle program.

• It spent over 300 days in space and completed over 4,000 orbits around Earth.

• Columbia was used for scientific research in orbit following the loss of Challenger in 1986.

• Its final flight in February 2003 resulted in the disintegration of the orbiter upon reentry, killing the seven-member crew of STS-107 and destroying most of the scientific payloads aboard.

• The loss of Columbia and its crew led to a refocusing of NASA's human exploration programs and led to the eventual retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.

• Numerous memorials and dedications were made to honor the crew following the disaster.

• Columbia was roughly 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) heavier than subsequent orbiters due to heavier wing and fuselage spars, test instrumentation, and an internal airlock.

• It was the first orbiter in the fleet whose surface was mostly covered with High & Low Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation (HRSI/LRSI) tiles as its main thermal protection system (TPS).The Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster and Its Legacy

• The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first shuttle to be launched into space by NASA, on April 12, 1981.

• Columbia flew 28 missions, gathering 300.74 days spent in space with 4,808 orbits and a total distance of 125,204,911.5 miles until STS-107.

• Columbia was destroyed at about 09:00 EST on February 1, 2003, while re-entering the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission.

• A piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeled off during launch and struck the shuttle's left wing, causing a hole that led to the loss of control.

• The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that organizational and cultural issues at NASA contributed to the accident.

• The seven crew members who died aboard this final mission were: Rick Husband, Commander; William C. McCool, Pilot; Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander/Mission Specialist 3; David M. Brown, Mission Specialist 1; Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist 2; Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist 4; and Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist 1.

• The Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum "Remembering Columbia" was opened in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas, to honor those who lost their lives aboard the shuttle and during the recovery efforts.

• The Columbia Memorial Space Center is the U.S. national memorial for the Space Shuttle Columbia's seven crew members, located in Downey, California on the site of the Space Shuttle's origin and production.

• The Columbia Point mountain in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Columbia Hills on Mars were named in honor of the crew.

• The Columbia supercomputer at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division located at Ames Research Center in California was named in honor of the crew lost in the 2003 disaster.

• Guitarist Steve Morse of the rock band Deep Purple wrote the instrumental "Contact Lost" in response to the tragedy, recorded by Deep Purple and featured as the closing track on their 2003 album Bananas.

• Several songs in popular music give minor tribute, and some are dedicated, such as Eric Johnson's "Columbia" and the Scottish band Runrig's "Somewhere".

• The Columbia disaster led to changes in NASA's decision-making and risk-assessment processes, as well as the installation of a "Soft Capture Docking Mechanism" on the Hubble Space Telescope to prevent its uncontrolled reentry and break-up in Earth's atmosphere.