Astronaut Rick Husband, a victim of the 1st February 2003 disaster in which the space shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry, killing the seven astrona

---

Astronaut Rick Husband, a victim of the 1st February 2003 disaster in which the space shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry, killing the seven astronauts on board. This was Husband's second shuttle flight, having piloted STS-96 in 1999. He was the commander of this mission (STS-107), which lifted off on 16th January 2003 to carry out scientific experiments. Columbia was around 65 kilometres up and travelling at 20,000 kilometres per hour when it exploded. Debris was scattered over a wide area of the southern USA, mostly in Texas and Louisiana. It is thought a heat shield failure may have led to the explosion. Photographed in 1999.

---

Size: 2546px × 3000px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2003, american, astronaut, columbia, commander, dead, disaster, february, husband, male, man, manned, rick, shuttle, space, spaceflight, states, sts-107, united, usa, victim