what was the cause of the disaster?
Columbia"s 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Columbia"s 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter.
16. what are the three phases of space shuttle flight Design Phase, Firing Phase, Landing phase what exactly is this space vehicle for? The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system can you name a few people who were involved in launching this? UNANSWERABLE are there any accidents associated with it? Yes,  STS-51-L disintegrated 73 seconds after launch, due to the failure of the right SRB, killing all seven astronauts on board "Challenger". what is the shuttle program mentioned above about? It was the program to carry out routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo; as well as the final flight of Space Shuttle "Challenger". which was the first shuttle to be launched in this program? "Columbia" when was it launched? April 12, 1981 who were the astronauts on it? UNANSWERABLE was this shuttle involved in a huge accident? Yes,  the (OV-102) disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program, after the 1986 breakup of "Challenger" soon after liftoff.
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Space Shuttle Columbia disaster [SEP] Introduction
The Space Shuttle "Columbia" disaster was a fatal incident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003, when the (OV-102) disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program, after the 1986 breakup of "Challenger" soon after liftoff. During the launch of STS-107, "Columbia"s 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous shuttle launches, causing damage that ranged from minor to nearly catastrophic, but some engineers suspected that the damage to "Columbia" was more serious.