On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second of two Space Shuttle missio
Columbia prior to launch. The circled area on the external tank (ET) is the left bipod foam ramp, and the circled area on the orbiter is the location that was damaged.
Close-up of the left bipod foam ramp that broke off and damaged the orbiter wing
The crew of STS-107. From left to right: Brown, Husband, Clark, Chawla, Anderson, McCool, Ramon.
STS-107 crew posing for a group photo in space
Kalpana Chawla
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Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, aerospace engineer, and pilot. Indian by heritage, she was the first such woman to fly to space. Chawla participated in two spaceflights, STS-87 and STS-107,
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
…who was on his first spaceflight. The payload commander was Michael Anderson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel who had previously flown on STS-89. Kalpana Chawla served as the flight engineer; she had previously flown on STS-87. David Brown and Laurel Clark, both Navy captains, flew as the mission specialists…
Kalpana Chawla's NASA portrait taken on March 8, 2002.
Chawla and her husband before the launch of STS-87.
The crew of STS-87 in September 1997. From left to right, in orange: Chawla, Lindsey, Kregel, Kadeniuk; in white: Scott, Doi.
The deployment of the SPARTAN module.