Columbia Shuttle Disaster's Tough Lesson: Spaceflight Still
Dangerous Space shuttle Columbia launches on mission STS-107,
January 16, 2003. The tragic destruction of the space shuttle
Columbia 10 years ago today (Feb. 1) taught NASA and the nation
a tough lesson: Despite the strides that have been made over the
years, human spaceflight remains a dangerous proposition.
Columbia broke apart upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere on Feb.
1, 2003, destroying the orbiter and killing all seven astronauts
on board. The accident jolted NASA out of a complacency that had
developed in the 17 years since the other major shuttle
disaster, the 1986 disintegration of Challenger shortly after
liftoff, experts say. "We thought we were better than we were,"
Wayne Hale, who served as a flight director for 40 shuttle
missions at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston before
becoming manager of the shuttle program in 2005, said of the
Columbia tragedy. "We became overconfident," Hale told
SPACE.com. "We thought we had a mature vehi