NASA's 'Return to Flight' - TAKES WING AT GLENN RESEARCH CENTER

摘要

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew were precious minutes away from completing the spacecraft's 28th mission when it literally fell to pieces upon re-entry over Texas. There were no survivors. A NASA investigation attributed the root cause of the tradegy to a puncture on the leading edge of one of the spacecraft's wings, which in turn allowed extremely hot air to enter and degrade the wing's internal support structure. This degradation, exacerbated by the intense heat typically encountered upon re-entering the atmosphere, precipitated Columbia's disintegration.