Columbia astronauts learned they were about to die moments before explosion | US | News

NASA mission control had serious concerns about the safety of Space Shuttle Columbia; but the astronauts on board remained unaware until their final, terrifying moments.

On February 1, 2003, the seven-person crew was preparing for the return journey after a successful 16-day space mission.

They were informed that a piece of foam insulation had broken off from the external tank during launch and hit the port wing, but the damage was said to be minor.

Ground control believed the heat shield remained fully operational.

This decision was devastatingly wrong. With the shield compromised, the shuttle’s chances of surviving re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere were virtually zero, sealing the fate of everyone on board. reports the mirror.

The doomed astronauts included commander Rick Husband, pilot Willie McCool, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson, David Brown and Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon.

The shuttle’s location meant it was too far from the International Space Station to be recovered and lacked the robotic arm needed to perform repairs.

Even launching another shuttle would be futile; he couldn’t reach them in time.

However, the crew had made sure everything was fine and were completely unaware that they only had a few minutes to live.

After receiving the 10-minute landing warning, those on board predicted they would soon receive a hero’s welcome on their return home.

As the ship sailed back across the Pacific Ocean to the United States, doomed crew members donned suits and protective gloves and braced themselves for what they expected to be a routine landing.

Footage from these final, heartbreaking moments shows them looking remarkably calm, occasionally laughing and chatting friendly with each other as they await the end of their extraordinary mission.

At one point, they were even amazed by the ‘astonishing’ pink-coloured glow they could observe through the cockpit windows.

His colleagues on the ground could only watch helplessly as anomalous data showed tire pressure measurements as well as missing temperature readings from the left wing sensors.

Shortly before 09:00 EST, Husband contacted Mission Control for the last time, replying ‘Roger’ and then speaking another incomplete sentence before communication was lost.

A 2008 NASA crew survival study concluded that the astronauts likely survived the spacecraft’s initial breakup before realizing the severity of their situation and losing consciousness soon after losing cabin pressure.

The investigation revealed that high altitude exposure and devastating impact trauma caused their deaths.

Debris rained down across East Texas and West Louisiana, creating harrowing sights for those looking up from below.

Following an extensive search operation, the remains of all seven crew members were found.

It was observed that one astronaut did not wear his pressure suit helmet, and the other three astronauts neglected to wear their spacesuit gloves.

However, the investigation did not attribute the spacecraft’s destruction to crew error and concluded that it was an uninhabitable event.

NASA’s Wayne Hale, who later rose to the role of space shuttle program manager, shared on his blog the harrowing situation the team encountered that day.

He wrote: “If it’s damaged, it’s probably better not to know. I think the crew would prefer not to know. Don’t you think it would be better for them to have a happy and successful flight and die unexpectedly during reentry, than to remain in orbit until the weather runs out, knowing there is nothing to be done?”.

A new three-part documentary, The Space Shuttle Crashed to Earth, examines NASA’s mistakes that led to the tragic loss of the crew. The series can be watched on BBC iPlayer.