Everything about Space Shuttle Columbia totally explained
The use of the word "plasma" to describe the gases that entered the wing isn't technically accurate, according to NASA and Boeing aero-thermal engineers who support the Space Shuttle program at the
NASA Johnson Space Center in
Houston,
Texas. They pointed out during the
Columbia accident investigations that atmospheric entry heating and its intrusion into damaged left wing was from
superheated air, not ionized gas and not plasma.
penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break apart during the intense heat of re-entry.
Forensic analysis of the debris was conducted jointly with the Materials Science department of
Lehigh University. The collected debris of the vessel is currently stored on the 16th floor of the
Vehicle Assembly Building at the
Kennedy Space Center; recovered items are occasionally loaned for research into the
hypersonic flight regime. Former NASA Administrator
Sean O'Keefe vowed that
Columbia won't be sealed away as was the debris from the
Challenger. The debris from
Challenger is permanently entombed in two
Minuteman missile silos at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The shuttle's final crew were honored in 2003 when the
USGS's Board of Geographic Names approved the name
Columbia Point for a 13,980' mountain in Colorado's
Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Not more than a half-mile away lies
Challenger Point, a peak named for America's other lost shuttle. The
Columbia Hills on
Mars were also named in honor of the crew, and a host of
other memorials were dedicated in various forms.
Further Information
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