I understand that some of the viewers are concerned about the privacy and dignity of the fallen astronauts as well as their families. But I would like to take note that the families of the crew of Columbia pushed for the release of more information regarding the accident. A Flight Surgeon during the STS-107 who is also working as a family liaison during the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said the following: "In discussion with the Columbia spouses we were entirely unified in our desire to ensure that all the lessons learned from this mishap be applied to prevent this type of accident from happening again. As sensitive as this issue is, it is essential that the facts related to crew survival be disseminated to ensure the next generation of spacecraft are afforded the maximum protection." While the statement may refer to the release of the 2008 Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report (CCSIR), this also applies to this video. The families wanted as much information to be disseminated about the accident as possible, including simulations (which was done on this video), as long as the media showing the remains of the astronauts are not shown. "Although we grieve deeply, as did the families of Apollo I and Challenger before us, the bold exploration of space must go on. Once the root cause of this tragedy is found and corrected, the legacy of Columbia must carry on for the benefit of our children and yours." - Statement from the Columbia families read by Evelyn Husband, wife of Commander Rick Husband on February 3, 2003, two days after the disaster.

The Columbia disaster is so sad.. 😢

The one thing you never want to hear from mission control... "lock the doors".

I worked for a subcontractor of NASA in the late 90s, most of our work was with the ISS and the NBL ISS mock up. The back and forth with NASA was mindblowing. I remember getting off a conference call with NASA engineers, our engineer, and our company's owner and I looked at them and said "How has the Challenger been the only disaster on these guys watches?"

I was in Dallas that day going to Flight Safety to get a Type Rating in a Falcon 10. I stood in the parking lot and was stunned as I could see pieces coming off as it broke apart. Sad day for all.

The chilling thing is, upon seeing the launch replay, and seeing that piece of foam hit the leading edge of the wing, they were "dead" from that moment on...

The two most haunting comms of the whole Space Shuttle era… Challenger: “Challenger, go at throttle up”…(static..) “Roger.Go at throttle up…”….😢 And with Columbia: “Lock the doors.”😢 God bless them all🫡💕🇨🇦

And the only reason that they knew of all of these sensors going offline, is that out of all of the shuttles, ONLY Columbia had a complete suite of sensors from nose to tail. NASA saw no need to install them in all of the shuttles. Plus, you're not actually hearing all of the communications between the flight director and the other systems monitors. This has to do with security at NASA. A man that I know who was one of the systems monitors said that it went from relative calm in the building to frantic bedlam in less than a minute, you can't hear all of the phones suddenly beginning to ring as calls began coming in about 1 minute before LOS, to a number of station alarms going off through Mission Control & several other rooms in the building.

I saw one of the main engines dug up at Fort Polk, LA. When it impacted the earth is splashed mud up to the top of mature longleaf pine trees.

In a recent documentary, on e expert characterized the NASA mentality perfectly when it came to the insulating foam breaking away in earlier missions. He described the clear warning signs were there all along, but over time, the rigid schedule drove all else. He called it "the normalization of deviance" in the data. Truer words were never spoken!

When the shuttle disintegrated, the explosion or sonic boom, shook my whole house. When I went outside I could see multiple flaming pieces going across the sky. I instantly knew that it was the shuttle and that something went terribly wrong.

RIP Columbia we will never forget you.

This is absolutely TERRIFYING to watch. May the crew of STS-107 rest in peace 💙

They would have known about the tire pressure issues and from that moment at the very least it was going to be a bad landing. Sadly I have zero doubt that they knew what was coming even if it was only for a few brief moments before the catastrophic breakup. We know at least some emergency procedures were performed (like the emergency air supply controls that we know were activated) so it wasn’t instant for them. My only solace is that (unlike Challenger’s crew) they got to live their dream of going to space before it all ended.

Crew safety was never a big concern for the makers of the Space Shuttle. Those big companies made so much money that a lost Shuttle did not affect their price to put a Shuttle into space. Why NASA did not attempt a rescue is what is so sad to me. The video of the blast off was clear that something, a block of foam, broke off and struck the Columbia. A roll over near Hubble could have assessed the damage, and Atlantis being on the pad could have been brought in as a rescue mission.

I really wish they had sent Atlantis up to save them since she was already on the pad for her next mission. If this was the NASA Mission Control from the 60s/70s they would’ve attempted it, those men and women were built different

no more haunting words as "lock the door"

RIP to everyone who died..

The worse thing is that they knew it was damaged, but NASA's leadership prevented any actions to asses the extent of the damage

Most sad video I've ever seen. My condolences to their families and friends.

It would be nice to see a representation of the shuttle from above, below, and front during the reentry.

I know the simulation isn’t great but surprised you didn’t want to show heat build up on the left side. That’s where the failure happened.

One of the NASA reconstructions I saw showed a slow steady roll rate building up as it went out of control (the rolls are about the velocity vector and at the entry angle of attack they looked more like yaws). The crew was still alive then and I suspect they would have been getting all sorts of tones and C&W annunciations as the flight control system was saturated trying to correct the errors.

10:24 sounds like someone screaming

This channel is super underrated

Shame on NASA for NOT learning the lessons of Apollo 1 & Challenger. It’s completely unacceptable that NASA did NOT launch a rescue mission with all of the Space Shuttles in the NASA Fleet. GOD Bless our fallen astronauts 💫 and their beautiful families 💖 🇺🇸 💙 🇮🇱 💝 🇮🇳

Great Video! An idea? During the re-entry simulation, if you accumulated each noted anomaly as it happens "Chat-style", we could get broader view of the entire disaster as it's happening. Knowing of the foam strike, someone sitting at a console had to know things were going to be bad with first landing gear tire warning.

Slight correction: the video of the crew is during reentry, not before it. You can see the plasma clearly out the windows.

The saddest and most infuriating part of this is the 'just keep pushing through the checklist' no matter the cost attitude. It's like 'summit fever'. That massive beurocratic machine just kept pushing for biz as usual, despite them knowing the likely outcome. They saw the missing and damaged tiles. What did they think would happen? They should have ferried them down on soyuz, even if it took several trips and another month in space. Its mind-boggling that nobody was even charged with negligence at the least. Why they allowed the entire crew to board despite knowing the possibility of breaking up, instead of just a minimum crew is mind-boggling as well. It's a lesson on how not to handle extremely high risk and dangerous situations and how risk could have been mitigated, but wasn't.

My education is aerospace science. I worked for generally electric NASA and also Fairchild. I never like the shuttle. I never trusted it. We should’ve stuck with expendable, rockets and capsule returns. The shuttle never delivered what it promised. It was never even close to budget. The fact that there were two fatal accidents is all the proof we need.

r.i.p rick husband william mccool david brown kalpana chawla michael anderson laurel clark ilan ramon

Can you do the same for the failed Starship 3rd flight that broke up during re-entry. Looked like the heat shield was just peeling away and that lead to the loss of craft

that a good recreation, maybe not the best recreation of the shuttle but one of the best recreation of that disaster in sfs

Dude this is so cool

If they didn’t lose consciousness they def knew they were dying. We know a few were conscious for like a min after losing signal.

I had always heard that Rick Husband's last words were, "roger....uh oh".

They had entered the upper atmosphere on the video the flight crew made on re-entry that is why you are seeing the flashes of light out of the windows of the shuttle. That is ionized gas from the shuttle going through the upper atmosphere so fast it strips electrons off of the gas molecules.

Both Shuttles were destroyed as a result of the political hierarchy of the NASA administrators who made reckless decisions. Nor could NASA administrators claim ignorance as they were pre launch/flight warned each time.

That was worth a sub.

If you ever get a chance to visit NASA in Texas, do it. When you see the older rockets and all the other displays, you realize how incredibly courageous all of the astronauts really were. Perhaps a little crazy too.

I hope they didn't suffer

"Lock the doors"-chilling.

This is just so sad...

They were aware of the damage in fact there was a picture of the crack to the edge of the left wing. This crack was large, there is no way they should have returned. Go back to the space station and wait for a rescue mission of sorts or in space repairs?

Ugh i watched this fall to the ground that morning, i remember every news channel i didnt have school that day, i don't remember why maybe it was Saturday or summer break but, yeah, terrible day

I did not know the foam piece was as large as was estimated. I still have difficulty understanding why either an engineer or a post flight assessment team from previous missions were never sufficiently curious or motivated enough to create a real test or even a simulation of a piece of foam striking the airframe. When I look back at the Cold War Space Race and the lengths NASA and USAF engineers went to, to analyze and test both every imaginable scenario, as well as all observed phenomena, it’s clear that that level of aggressive initiative, and determination, and independent analysis, by both dedicated individuals and teams, had been swapped with bureaucratic inertia and complacency within the NASA of the 80s. The fault lay not only with NASA, however. Congress also imposed serious burdens on NASA, putting severe limitations on the agency with such a high priority placed on cost cutting, perpetual interference and oversight (oversight of cost controls, that is). Congress forced NASA to settle on a design based on perceived affordability rather than a properly designed Shuttle program. This re-prioritization led to a compromised system that Congress felt was acceptable, even though it was criticized by the space industry at the time for being insufficient for its mission - as well as, as proven, unsafe. Congress bears responsibility for creating an atmosphere of bureaucracy fatigue and a lowering of the morale of the agency, which led directly to the reduction of NASA’s culture of safety as well as the feeling of complacent indifference. When NASA engineers and dedicated administrators are constantly being reined in and second guessed by appointed bureaucrats, it is amazing the Shuttle Program was as successful as it was, upon researching the complete backstory and program background.

Space flight is dangerous and bad things happen. I think this incident was preventable

Senior engineers and managers at nasa knew what was going to happen. What exactly would you have done, have them sit in orbit until the oxygen and power/fuel ran out? There was no backup, taxi to pick them up.

Is the part at 11:10 the crew cabin or something else?

NASA became aware of the foam strike later on launch day upon reviewing the tracking camera playback. They could only speculate as to the extent of the damage to the orbiter since the point of impact was not visible to those same cameras. Since Foreign Object Damage (FOD) had been a regular occurrence beginning with the very first Shuttle launch in April of 1981, NASA had become desensitized to the shedding problem. Even after nearly losing Atlantis in 1988 due to heat shield tiles that were shed during the launch of STS-27, nothing substantial was done about the FOD issue. Playing devil's advocate however, suppose that NASA had determined that the orbiter and crew were absolutely doomed. What, if any, purpose would disclosing their impending demise serve, other than to subject the crew, their colleagues and their loved ones to intense mental torture in their final days. I'm certain that NASA has written protocols for this scenario, but I don't think declassifying them would serve any useful purpose.

Not that they would have been able to do anything about it, but it sounds like, unless the people assessing the situation could guarantee there was going to be a catastrophic failure, the decision makers didn't want to have to consider options. There was no thought process of exploring possible options, just in case the damage was bad.

So the highest parachute jump has been 128K. From this video the shuttle broke up at 150K. I really believe that a parachute system with a strengthened crew compartment really could have saved the crew on this one. Find Gregg Easterbrook's very prescient editorials on the Space Shuttle.

May they rest in peace 🕊️

Well now im seeing the simulation gives me a feeling in my stomach

It's NASA, they should've always had a rescue rocket ready to power up, fuel up and get up within 24-48 hours of the Shuttle launch. Come down in the rescue capsule and leave shuttle up there until they patch it and can rc it down.

just wondering if thats an AI voice or is that the narrator's genuine Australian accent? Subbed.

NASA should have done better to protect these astronauts. This wasn't the first foam strike. There was no way to assess the damage which is inexcusable. There was no consideration of a rescue operation should one have been needed. The problem with the government running science operations is the threat of politics getting in the way of objective reasoning. My condolences to the families of these brave souls.

Very Sad

do Challenger too? good stuff

There’s nothing wrong with showing this. We can learn from it.

A terrible tragedy. All because a styrofoam block from the ET tank blowing a hole into the wing of Columbia sealing the fate of the crew.

10:22 Right about here the crew had to know they were doomed...

They knew.

I am thinking that they had plenty of time to realize that they were toast and bravely meeting their fate.

Apollo One-Challenger-Columbia Similar NASA organizational failures separated by about 17 years each time. Totally unnecessary. No one was fired. Some were promoted...

Given the structural forces going into space, the speed and drag on a breached vessel, why didn't Columbia disintegrate on ascent?

RIP

Hopefully they were able to tell command exactly what they thought of them..... Joking, but really, so sad and preventable.NASA strikes again

We all will die one day in the future. It's important to meet that day as a human being not as a bastard or coward.

9:26 Rick Husband says Feeling the Heat. The left wing strike email he got, the left wing sensors going off line. Husband knew, hence his Feeling The Heat comment.

I wonder what it's like to travel at 13,000 MPH

The foam doesn't break off and stop...it didn't hit it at 800 fps

Decent attempt. All the wing damage was to the left side; why was your animation from the right?!? You showed the right wing coming apart. The depiction of the fuselage breakup was almost entirely wrong. If you’re going to go to all the effort of doing this, you owe it to the -107 Crew to nail the critical details, -especially- on a monetized video.

They knew Columbia was damaged but kept quiet 😢sad. They ignored the foam strike.

so they was still alive during the breakup, I still don't understand why the crew area wasn't made to separate like an ejection capsule something like the f-111 aardvark system, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ all of those ship going into space should have them, and re-entry is survivable go up with one

And nobody went to jail in either one of these disasters ???

It's important we study these incidents, so that we can prevent them in the future. Else they died in vain...

27.4.2024 Journey - Send Her My Love [my version] *_It's been so long_* 🤔 *_Since I've seen their face_* 👨🏻👨🏻👩🏻👩🏽👨🏾👨🏻👨🏻 *_Who said they're doin' fine_* 🫤 *_I still recall_* 😑 *_A sad live-play_* 😢 *_How it hurt so bad to see all cry_* 😭 *_They didn't want to say good-bye..._* 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈 *_Space ain't above_* 🌎🟰💩 *_shame glories remain_* 🤮 *_Space ain't above_* 🌍🟰💩 *_posers never fade_* 🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀👩🏻‍🚀👩🏽‍🚀👨🏾‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀 *_Space ain't above_* 🌏🟰💩 *_The same old tale, the same old boom_* 💥 *_I'm on the mode again_* ✍ *_They needed so much more_* 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑 *_Than truth could give_* 👎 *_They knew our gov 'could not' pretend_* 🥸 *_Rotten hearts can always spend..._* 💵 *_Space ain't above_* 🌎🟰💩 *_shame glories remain_* 🤮 *_Space ain't above_* 🌍🟰💩 *_posers never fade_* 🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀👩🏻‍🚀👩🏽‍🚀👨🏾‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀 *_Space ain't above_* 🌏🟰💩 *_Cancel out their fame I'm screamin'_* 😡 *_Infections of fake space I'm healin'_* 👨‍🏫 *_It's their choice_* 😞 *_That keeps on hurting me_* 😒 *_Space ain't, space ain't above_* 🌐🟰💩 *_Posers never fade_* 🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀👩🏻‍🚀👩🏽‍🚀👨🏾‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀🧑🏻‍🚀 *_Shame glories remain_* 🤮 *_Space ain't, space ain't above_* 🌐🟰💩

As for no fire in space, they were in re entry which means atmosphere. Don't be stupid.

Great Video ! The NASA leadership killed the two Crews of the NASA Space Shuttle program ! The big first mistake was stating that the Shuttle was operational after three (3) flights ! The Shuttle Program was a research program as long as problems developed ! ! ! Also NASA planned to develop the Dream Chaser (or Capsule) during the Shuttle Program, but did not fund this Safety Program ! The Dream Chaser is what the NASA Space Shuttle Program should have been ! The Tech developed to return to the moon to stay, can take US and the world to Mars and beyond-Ad Astra... tjl

Video presentation is a bit rough. And a bit long where it shouldn't be. But overall, good job.

it's so scary that your death was burning to death

You used a CELL PHONE APP?

The flight director new this was going to happen or he wouldn't have been asking all those questions.

Far better videos on this available elsewhere.

You spelled sensor wrong several times.

You Said Saturday

The crash was cause of fire it was crashing into parts I know the NASA has a vid but it is long It won't be good it was the crash The crash happpen cause There is no heat sheld The NASA build it again and tryied to launch it Then it worked thank you Guys and NASA

Look at Apollo 13.. they found an away-to bring them home ..they took what they had and made it work.. they could’ve tried something., made a temporary patch..just long enough to hold out till you got through the atmosphere.. no …attempt…at ..alll😢😢

The foam broke off and struck the leading edge of the left wing ON LAUNCH, NOT WHILE IN FLIGHT.

This is incorrect, the reaction control thrusters in the nose don’t fire at all during reentry, they can’t fire into plasma. Also your orientation is completely incorrect, as is your breakup. Nice looking graphics, but everything else is wrong.

How to transform a shuttle into a meteor

Boy, how many times are people gonna rehash this story? Like vultures picking the bones of the deceased crew.

Cool video but please use metric units for 95% of world's population that uses it :)

NASA knew about the hole, there was no way to rescue the crew so they gave it a try. They weren't sure if the orbiter would make re-entry and now we know.

Its Sad dude. Then NASA thinks they are all high and perfect too. this is how i imagine comms went on non public channels... STS 107 to Houston: We are a little concerned about the damage that the tiles took during launch. Houston to STS 107: Yeah... you all right. its fine. STS: Are you sure because we got a look at it and it looks like some substantial damage. Houston: yeah we are sure. STS: but you havent eve looked at it!?!? Houston: Standby... ... Houston: Ok STS, take some photos and send them down to us and we will have some engineer examine them. STS: ok thank God. STS: what about data compression? itll distort the image right? Houston: nah itll be fine. before the pics even download Houston: ok STS it looks like its ok. STS: are you sure? Houston: yeah we looked at it. STS: ok. Challenger was sort of the same. The engineers warned them against launching on a day that cold and NASA didnt listen.

What happened? Oh Linda ham happened read deeper into the truth!

Duh....Umm, someone put on a suit and go OUT AND INSPECT THE FREAKING WING!! But ya know these are the same guys that ignored engineers warnings NOT to launch Challenger. This should have been criminal....

They should have built the shuttle out of the material used to build the camera.🤔

I have hated NASA and anything they do since this incident