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.
Lockheed Martin’s proposed autonomous drone, called Vectis, is still on track to fly a prototype by the end of 2027, an official from the company’s Skunk Works division said Sept. 10, and the firm already started work on four more Vectis aircraft.
