Damaged tile from Space Shuttle Columbia
Damaged tile from NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia. This is a high-temperature reusable surface insulation (HRSI) tile and is part of the Space Shuttle thermal protection system (TPS), designed to protect the shuttles from the searing heat generated during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Space Shuttle Columbia broke-up upon re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere on 1st February 2003, killing its seven astronauts. The disaster was caused by the failure of the TPS. Columbia, on mission STS-107, was at an altitude of around 65 kilometres and was travelling at 20,000 kilometres per hour. Debris from the explosion was scattered over a wide area of the southern USA. STS-107 launched on 16th January 2003 to carry out scientific experiments. On board were astronauts Husband, McCool, Ramon, Anderson, Clark, Chawla and Brown.
Size: 4134px × 3600px
Location:
Photo credit: © DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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