The Columbia Disaster: The History of the Last Space Shuttle to Be Lost During a Mission

On February 1, the Columbia was due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 09:16. Only a few members of the press were present to watch the landing - this was, after all, supposed to be a routine return from a routine mission, the 113th for the shuttle program and the 28th for Columbia, one of the oldest Space Shuttles.

Reentry into the Earth's atmosphere is always the most dangerous part of any space mission. The intense heat generated as a spacecraft enters the thin upper atmosp...