Why NASA Believed the Foam Strike on Columbia Was Safe

Signs of Strain · Episode 3 January 16, 2003. Eighty-one seconds after liftoff, a slab of foam breaks off Space Shuttle Columbia's External Tank and strikes the left wing. Sixteen days later, on February 1, Columbia breaks apart during re-entry. All seven astronauts were lost. Foam had been falling off the tank since the first flights. Built from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report and NASA records. People inside NASA are described by their jobs. Animations are simplified, not to scale. No breakup footage is shown. Signs of Strain, Ep. 3. Next: Deepwater Horizon (2010). CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open 1:08 The Record 1:34 Columbia's Last Mission 2:24 How the Shuttle Stack Works 3:41 The Edge of the Wing 4:47 Foam That Kept Falling 7:10 How the Unusual Became Normal 8:30 Eighty-One Seconds 9:24 The Pictures Nobody Took 11:41 A Turnaround Issue 12:54 February 1, 2003 14:23 The Test in San Antonio 15:53 What the Board Found 18:07 Return to Flight 19:28 Closing PHOTO & VIDEO CREDITS (NASA / CAIB, U.S. government works, public domain, 17 U.S.C. §105; CAIB photos shown for editorial use) Launch photo, Jan 16, 2003: NASA Foam-strike launch films (camera E212; tracking camera with NASA debris tracks): NASA / CAIB, public hearing May 6, 2003 Shuttle stack model (bipod), RCC sample, gas gun, panel 8 before and after the July 7, 2003 impact test: CAIB Photos by Rick Stiles Hangar debris layout; recovered left-wing RCC pieces: CAIB Photos SOURCES CAIB Report, Vol. I (Aug 2003): https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... CAIB report by chapter: https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... NASA copy, all six volumes: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploa... NASA Return to Flight Implementation Plan (May 15, 2007): https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/178101main_r... CAIB press releases (Aug 26 and May 13, 2003): https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... ; https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... CAIB impact testing roundtable (Jul 11, 2003): https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... CAIB public hearing (May 6, 2003): https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... CAIB image analysis presentation: https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... CAIB photo archive: https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/... NASA STS-107: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-107/ NASA Columbia chronology: https://www.nasa.gov/history/columbia... NASA, Remembering Columbia: https://www.nasa.gov/remembering-colu... NASA STS-114: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-114 NASA STS-135: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-135/ NASA images KSC-03pd1414, KSC-03pd0637: https://images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-0... NASA CAIB gallery: https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/columbia... CRS RS21606 (Sep 2, 2003): https://www.everycrsreport.com/report... Wildland Fire LLC, Shuttle Recovery Helicopter Crash 2003: https://lessons.wildfire.gov/incident... Cited by the Board: D. Vaughan, The Challenger Launch Decision (1996) #SignsOfStrain #Columbia #NASA #SpaceShuttle