Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Investigators say the Columbia broke up during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere while returning from its 28th mission. The craft was the oldest space shuttle in NASA’s fleet.
According to investigators, a piece of foam from one of the booster rockets broke off shortly after the Columbia lifted off on January 16, 2003. The foam struck the shuttle, putting a hole in the left wing.
A report said engineers noticed the break, and thought it could lead to a problem, but management did not think the incident was a serious enough issue.
All seven crew members died in the accident.
On August 26, 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board released a report that said mistakes and organizational problems at NASA were partly to blame for the break-up of the shuttle.
