Out of this World Inspection: On-orbit Inspection of the Space Shuttle's Thermal Protection System

摘要

The space shuttle Columbia and her crew suffered a fatal mishap when a piece of foam broke away from the shuttle's external tank(ET)and impacted the reinforced carbon-carbon(RCC)on the leading edge of Columbia's wing.The impact force was sufficient to fatally damage the RCC.The damage went unnoticed by the crew and MCC during the mission.Upon re-entry through the earth's atmosphere,the 2700 degree Fahrenheit plasma entered the breach in the RCC and weakened Columbia's structural integrity,causing the loss of the vehicle.