Space Shuttle Columbia’s last Launch.
The Columbia’s 28th space mission, designated STS-107, was originally
scheduled to launch on January 11, 2001, but was delayed numerous
times for a variety of reasons over nearly two years. Columbia finally
launched on January 16, 2003, with a crew of seven.
Eighty seconds into the launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off
from the shuttle’s propellant tank and hit the edge of the shuttle’s
left wing.
When Columbia re-entered the earth’s atmosphere on the morning of
February 1, 2003, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to
penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure,
which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.
The first debris began falling to the ground in West Texas near Lubbock
at 8:58 a.m. One minute later, the last communication from the crew of
five men and two women was heard, and at 9 a.m. the space shuttle
disintegrated over northeast Texas, near Dallas.
Crewmember helmet found in a field after the space shuttle Columbia
disaster.
Jerry Lee Lewis, often known by his nickname…The Killer
is 84 years old to day.
Singer-songwriter Jerry Lee Lewis has been described as a pioneer of
rockabilly and ‘’rock & roll’s first great wild man.”
Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He has won
several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
On February 28, 2019, Lewis suffered a minor stroke in Memphis. He is
expected to fully recover, but had to cancel some appearances.
The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect on this
day in 1920. The amendment prohibited discrimination on the basis
of sex in the voting booth.
Investigators pinpoint the cause of the Space Shuttle Columbia
disaster on this day in 2003.
NASA space shuttle program manager Ron
Dittemore holds a piece of insulation foam
from an external fuel tank to describe how
a piece hit the underside of the shuttle
during the craft’s liftoff.
It was on this day in 1974.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh
(February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)