STS-107 (113)

Columbia (28)

Pad 39-A (76)

KSC Landing (62) (Planned)

113th Shuttle Mission

Loss of Vehicle and Crew

NOTE: Click Here for Countdown Homepage

Crew:

Rick D. Husband (2), Commander

William C. McCool (1), Pilot

Michael P. Anderson (2), Payload Commander

Kalpana Chawla (2), Mission Specialist

David M. Brown (1), Mission Specialist

Laurel B. Clark (1), Mission Specialist

Ilan Ramon (1), (ISA) Payload Specialist

Milestones:

OPF -- 3/12/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 3/12/2002)

VAB -- 11/18/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 11/18/2002)

PAD -- 12/09/02 (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 12/09/2002)

Payload:

SpaceHab-DM Research Mission, Freestar

Mission Objectives:

Click here for Additional Info on STS-107

Research Mission, Freestar (MEIDEX,SOLSE-2,CVX-2,SOLCON-3, LPT,SEM,PSRD)

The FREESTAR payload is a Hitchhiker payload through the GSFC Code

870 Shuttle Small Payloads Project. FREESTAR consists of separate

experiments and the Hitchhiker (HH) Carrier (HHC) avionics mounted

on a cross-bay HH Multipurpose Equipment Support Structure

(MPESS). The carrier avionics provides the interface to the

electrical systems, the payload power control, and command and

telemetry capabilities. Examples of some of the experiments that

FREESTAR can carry are MEIDEX, SOLSE-2, CVX-2, SOLCON-3,

LPT, SEM, and PSRD.

Launch:

January 16, 2003 - 10:39 a.m. EST (15:39 GMT)

On Thursday, 1/16/03, the launch countdown proceeded as scheduled. At 9:18 a.m. EST, a go was given to close the hatch. At 10:10 a.m. EST, the countdown clock exited the planned hold at the T-minus 20 minute mark. At 10:31 a.m. EST, the countdown clock came out of the planned hold at the T-minus 9 minute mark. At 10:35 a.m. EST, a go was given for APU start. Launch occurred at the opening of the launch window.

On Friday, May 24, 2002, in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), workers installed the SPACEHAB/FREESTAR payload into Columbia's payload bay after managers determined the small scratch on a support attachment was not a concern. Installation of Space Shuttle Main Engines and servicing of Freon Loop No. 1 was also in work. (Reference KSC Shuttle Status 5/24/2002)

Previous launch dates were July 11, 2002, April 4, 2002 and January

11, 2001.

Orbit:

Altitude: 150 nm

Inclination: 39

Orbits: 255

Duration: 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 22 seconds.

Distance: miles

Hardware:

SRB:

SRM:

ET : ET-93

MLP :

SSME-1: SN-

SSME-2: SN-

SSME-3: SN-

Landing:

KSC February 1, 9:16 a.m. 2003 (Planned)

Deorbit burn occured at 8:15 a.m. EST (1315 GMT) for a planned landing on KSC Runway 33. At approximately 8:52 a.m. EST, Columbia was crossing over the coast of California and entering Roll Reversal #1. Columbia was traveling at Mach 20.9 and 224,390 ft (MET 15 days 22 hours 17 min 50 seconds)

At 8:52:20 EST, Columbia's Left Main Gear Brake Line Temp D in the left wheel well showed an off nominal temperature rise (2 degrees/min) followed by an off nominal temperature rise in Brake Line Temp A (6 degrees/min) at 8:52:39 (13:52:39 GMT) and Temp C (5 degrees/min) at 8:52:48. At 13:52:59 GMT, flight controllers saw a loss of sensor data (offscale low) from the Left Inbord Elevon Lower Skin Temp followed by a loss of sensor data from the Hydraulic System 3 Left Outboard Elevon Actuator Return Line Temp (13:53:10), Hydraulic System 1 Left Inboard Elevon Actuator Return Line Temp (13:53:11), Hydraulic system 1 Left Outboard Elevon Actuator Return Line Temp (13:53:31), Hydraulic System 2 Left Inboard Elevon Actuator Return Line Temp (8:53:36). Wires from these sensors are routed inside the wing from the orbiter midbody, in front of the main landing gear towards the leading edge and then back to the sensor locations near the trailing edge of the wing.

At 8:54 a.m. EST, while the orbiter was crossing over Eastern California, sensors indicated there was an increase in temperature in the left wheel well and Mid Fuselage. The Left Main Gear Brake Line Temp B showed an off nominal temperature rise (6 degrees/min) (8:54:13) followed by an off nominal rise (6 degrees/min) of the Mid Fuselage Left Body Line (X-axis=1215) Temperature (8:54:22), Left Main Gear Strut Actuator Temp (7 degrees/min) (8:54:27), Left Main Gear Uplock Actuator Unlock Line Temp (4 degrees/min) (13:54:36) and the System 3 Left Hand Forward Brake Switch valve Return line Temp (5 degrees/min) (13:55:23). Over a 5 minute period, Columbia's left side increased 60 degrees F while the right side increased only 15 degrees F during the same time. During this time, the inside of the Payload Bay was normal.

Shortly before 8:58 a.m. EST, while the orbiter was over New Mexico, sensors indicated an increase in drag on the left side and the flight control systems were automatically compensating. Then the Main Landing Gear Left Outboard Wheel Temperature Sensor went offline (13:55:35) followed by the Left Upper and Lower Wing Skin Temp Sensor (13:56:20). At 13:57:54, the System 2 Left Hand Aft Brake Switch Valve Return Temp increased in temperature (14 degrees/min) and the Main Landing Gear Left Hand Outboard and Inboard Tire Pressure 1&2 (13:58:33/13:58:39) and Wheel Temperature (13:58:35) goes offline (offscale low).

At 8:59 a.m. the Tire pressure sensor caused an onboard alert that was acknowledged by the crew. Communication with the crew and loss of data occured shortly after while Columbia was at a Mission Elapsed Time (MET) of 15 days 22 hours 20 minutes 22 seconds. The vehicle broke up while traveling at 12,500 mph (Mach 18.3) at an altitude of 207,135ft over East Central Texas resulting in the loss of both vehicle and crew. (Reference: JSC Ron Dittemore Post flight Technical News Conference 2/1/03, 2/2/03 and 2/7/03 3:30 pm CST).

Mission Highlights:

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