February 01, 2003

Feb. 1, 2003
Seven astronauts are lost as the space shuttle Columbia breaks up on re-entry, 200,000 feet above East Texas, on its return from a 16-day mission in space. This was the 113th shuttle flight, and the 28th for Columbia. Crew members were Air Force Col. Rick D. Husband, Columbia’s commander, Navy Capt. David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Navy Cmdr. William C. McCool, Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson, and Navy Cmdr. Laurel Blair Salton Clark.

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