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The Space Shuttle Columbia did not actually blow up. Rather, it was torn apart and disintigrated. The Columbia disaster was caused as a result of foam on the space shuttle's external fuel tank (ET). The ET is covered in insulating foam to prevent ice from forming from the cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. During launch, aerodynamic forces pulled a large piece of the foam off of the ET, and it impacted some of the space shuttle's Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) panels on the left wing, causing a hole. The RCC panels are used to protect the space shuttle from the violent heat of re-entry. However the hole allowed hot gases to melt the inside of the shuttle's wing, which destroyed it structurally. As Columbia's structure melted and fell apart, aerodynamic forces broke up the vehicle into hundreds of thousands of pieces, killing the crew.

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