When Columbia disintegrated, it was 39 miles (69km) in altitude.
During re-entry, the Columbia space shuttle was pulled apart because a hole in the wing caused by falling foam at lift-off allowed the extreme heat of the re-entry process to enter the wing structure and warp it. This destabilized the shuttle and it disintegrated from the enormous forces at high velocity. All seven crew members died. Approximately 85,000 pieces of debris were housed in the Columbia Debris Hangar near the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. This represented 38 percent of Columbia. Recovered pieces were identified and positioned on an outline of the orbiter. After this, pieces were available to scientific researchers around the world.
The bodies of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia crew members were found at different locations across eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The recovered remains were in various stages of decomposition due to the high-altitude breakup of the shuttle.
The space shuttle that launched on July 22, 1999 was the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-93. This mission was notable for deploying the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is a space telescope designed to observe X-ray emissions from high-energy regions of the universe.
Columbia was a Space Shuttle Orbiter. Space Shuttle Orbiters are 37.23 meters (122.17 feet) long, 17.27 meters (56.67 feet) high, with a wingspan of 23.79 meters (78.06 feet) and maximum weight of 2,041,166 kilograms (4.5 million pounds) at liftoff and 104,326 kilograms (230,000 pounds) at the end of the mission when returning to Earth.
The Columbia space shuttle disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. At that time, the external temperature of the shuttle's surface reached approximately 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,650 degrees Celsius) due to the intense heat generated by friction with the atmosphere. However, the ambient temperature in the vicinity of the shuttle at high altitudes would have been much colder. The disaster was caused by damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system, which led to the loss of the vehicle and its crew.
During re-entry, the Columbia space shuttle was pulled apart because a hole in the wing caused by falling foam at lift-off allowed the extreme heat of the re-entry process to enter the wing structure and warp it. This destabilized the shuttle and it disintegrated from the enormous forces at high velocity. All seven crew members died. Approximately 85,000 pieces of debris were housed in the Columbia Debris Hangar near the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. This represented 38 percent of Columbia. Recovered pieces were identified and positioned on an outline of the orbiter. After this, pieces were available to scientific researchers around the world.
No, Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-American astronaut working for NASA, died on February 1, 2003 high above the state of Texas, due to the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia during the time of its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. This accident is known today as the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster. Neither Chawla nor any astronaut has ever gone to Mars.
Columbia came apart at a very high altitude, and so only some pieces fell to earth. At the time it disintegrated, Colombia was traveling at 12 500 mph (5.6km's a second)
The bodies of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia crew members were found at different locations across eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The recovered remains were in various stages of decomposition due to the high-altitude breakup of the shuttle.
During re-entry, the Columbia space shuttle was pulled apart because a hole in the wing caused by falling foam at lift-off allowed the extreme heat of the re-entry process to enter the wing structure and warp it. This destabilized the shuttle and it disintegrated from the enormous forces at high velocity. All seven crew members died. Approximately 85,000 pieces of debris were housed in the Columbia Debris Hangar near the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. This represented 38 percent of Columbia. Recovered pieces were identified and positioned on an outline of the orbiter. After this, pieces were available to scientific researchers around the world.
The space shuttle that launched on July 22, 1999 was the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-93. This mission was notable for deploying the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is a space telescope designed to observe X-ray emissions from high-energy regions of the universe.
Columbia was a Space Shuttle Orbiter. Space Shuttle Orbiters are 37.23 meters (122.17 feet) long, 17.27 meters (56.67 feet) high, with a wingspan of 23.79 meters (78.06 feet) and maximum weight of 2,041,166 kilograms (4.5 million pounds) at liftoff and 104,326 kilograms (230,000 pounds) at the end of the mission when returning to Earth.
An average space shuttle orbits in the high thermosphere, which is 120-600 km above sea level
The Columbia space shuttle disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. At that time, the external temperature of the shuttle's surface reached approximately 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,650 degrees Celsius) due to the intense heat generated by friction with the atmosphere. However, the ambient temperature in the vicinity of the shuttle at high altitudes would have been much colder. The disaster was caused by damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system, which led to the loss of the vehicle and its crew.
none. The Challenger exploded low in the atmosphere and Columbia burned up like a meteor high in the atmosphere. Neither were in space.
230 miles out into space
The space shuttle travels in the thermosphere layer of the atmosphere, which is the layer located above the mesosphere. This layer is where temperatures can reach very high levels due to its proximity to space.