Kennedy Space Center
On February 1, 2003, "Columbia" and her crew of seven were lost during re-entry over Texas during the STS-107 mission (the 113th shuttle flight); a vehicle breakup triggered by damage sustained during launch from Pad 39A on January 16, when a piece of foam insulation from the orbiter's external fuel tank struck the orbiter's left wing. During reentry, the damage created a hole allowing hot gases to melt the wing structure. Like the "Challenger" disaster, the resulting investigation and modifications interrupted shuttle flight operations at KSC for more than two years until the STS-114 launch on July 26, 2005.
Terahertz nondestructive evaluation
STS-114 employed Space Shuttle "Discovery", and was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle "Columbia" disaster. It launched at 10:39 EDT, 26 July 2005. During the STS-114 flight significant foam shedding was observed. Therefore, the ability to nondestructively detect and characterize crushed foam after that flight became a significant priority when it was believed that the staff processing the tank had crushed foam by walking on it or from hail damage when the shuttle was on the launch pad or during other preparations for launch.