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.
Shipwrecks of the inland Columbia River
"J.N. Teal" burned at Portland on October 22, 1907. "Helen Hale" burned in 1913 somewhere on the Upper Reach. "Idaho", which had sunk "Boneta" in 1905, herself burned at Blackrock Bay in Lake Coeur d'Alene in 1915. Other boats destroyed by fire were "R.C. Young", at Dove's Landing July 22, 1892 and "Regulator", burned on ways at St. Johns, January 24, 1906. Fire was so common a cause of destruction that in some cases little information is available as to the cause, date, or place, such as "Messenger" in 1879, "Mascot" in 1911, and "Saint Paul", burned somewhere on the Columbia in 1915. Not every fire which destroyed a steamboat was ignited on the boat itself. Thus "James Clinton" was destroyed at Oregon City on April 23, 1861, after being ignited by sparks from burning buildings across the river.