STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle Program and the 28th flight of Columbia, the first Space Shuttle orbiter. This was the first mission of the year 2003. About 82 seconds after liftoff, a piece of insulation foam struck the left wing on January 16, 2003. NASA knew about it but, this has happened multiple times during the Space Shuttle Program so they thought nothing of it, even the crew thought nothing about it. After the experiments came to an end, it was time for the shuttle to reenter the atmosphere and land at Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle was reentering the Earth as normal until, the shuttle went into a flat spin, ripping off the left orbiter maneuverer and intensifying the flat spin, later the left wing where the foam struck ripped off but the crew was trying to restart the APU which they thought failed, during this the payload doors ripped off along with the nose of the spacecraft. The crew were trying to save the shuttle but a few seconds after the nose broke off, the crew passed out and never woke up. After STS-107, it shocked the world as it was the 2nd space shuttle lost in 17 years. And it was found that the Space Shuttle Program was risky and expensive to make the Space Shuttle safe. In 2004, president George W. Bush said the Space Shuttle Program should end by 2010 but, on July 8, 2011 the final space shuttle launch happened, Atlantis blasted off to space for its 12 day journey, on July 21, 2011 the shuttle returned to Kennedy Space Center, officially ending the Space Shuttle Program. The remaining 3 shuttles were donated to museums, no longer flyable and for the public to see.
Reference image: https://cdn.britannica.com/55/74855-004-A45A2C8F/debris-Streaks-space-shuttle-orbiter-Texas-Columbia-February-1-2003.jpg Main Credits: Me (Art) The Caretaker (Music)
