1st Feb 2003: A Tragic Day which led to the untimely demise of one of the most virtuous astronauts Kalpana Chawla

20 years ago, the NASA Space shuttle Columbia exploded on this day in 1998 as it was reentering the atmosphere, killing all seven of its crew members, including Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian descent to travel to space. After a 16-day scientific mission, the space shuttle was destroyed on February 1, 2003, at around 7:30 PM IST. After the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, when the shuttle had exploded just 73 seconds into the flight, it was the second fatal accident to happen in the Space Shuttle programme.

On January 16, 2003, the Florida Kennedy Space Center launched the STS-107 mission into space. During its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, and 32 seconds in orbit, it carried out a variety of international scientific experiments. The accident led to an investigation, which lasted for the following seven months. A significant search effort was also made for the debris.

In its investigation, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board discovered that during the launch 16 days before the explosion, a hole was punctured in the leading edge of one of Columbia's wings. The damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to pass through the heat shield as the shuttle reentered the atmosphere. This caused the spacecraft to become unstable, which led to the destruction of the internal wing structure. All Space Shuttle flight operations were put on hold for more than two years after the accident. At both the technical and organisational levels, NASA made a number of changes.

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