23 years ago today marks the tragic day when the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster place and all 7 astronauts lost their lives
https://i.redd.it/k34uurzhvugg1.jpeg
23 years ago today marks the tragic day when the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster place and all 7 astronauts lost their lives
https://i.redd.it/k34uurzhvugg1.jpeg
5 Comments
I just realised that Colombia and Chalanger anniversaries are just 3 days apart.
With hindsight, shuttle was such a bad idea
They were not just astronauts, they were the edge of human curiosity. Columbia reminds us that exploration is never safe, but stopping would cost us more. Their legacy still flies with every launch today.
The BBC’s *13 Minutes* podcast series covered the shuttle program, including Columbia and Challenger, it’s harrowing and frustrating and well worth a listen [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0lq7254](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0lq7254)
They were doomed as soon as they launched.
Linda Ham made some bad, bad calls that week, but even if she hadn’t, it’s unlikely the crew could have been rescued, or Columbia’s wing patched sufficiently to survive re-entry.
What’s still the biggest tragedy of both. The problems were completely known about, warned about it, and did practically nothing about them. Does not take a rocket scientist to know anything, even insulating foam striking a space craft is not good. Also same goes for rubber o-rings in freezing weather shrinking and becoming brittle.