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About the Picture Slideshow/Slide Show:
        On the morning of February 1, 2003, the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. NASA lost radio contact at about 0900. EST, only minutes before the expected 0916 landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Video recordings show the craft breaking up in flames over Texas, at an altitude of approximately 39 miles (63 km) and a speed of 12,500 mph (5.6 km/s).

In the months following the tragedy, NASA scientists determined that a hole was punctured in the leading edge on one of Columbia's wings, made of a carbon-carbon composite.The hole had formed when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeled off during the launch 16 days earlier, puncturing the edge of the wing.

Hot gases, referred to by many reports as plasma, penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break apart during the intense heat of re-entry.

The collected debris of the vessel are currently stored on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center; recovered items are occasionally loaned for research into the hypersonic flight regime.

RICK DOUGLAS HUSBAND (COLONEL, USAF) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born July 12, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas. He is survived by his wife and their two children.

KALPANA CHAWLA (PH.D.) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Karnal, India. She is survived by her husband.

MICHAEL P. ANDERSON (LIEUTENANT COLONEL, USAF) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born December 25, 1959, in Plattsburgh, New York, but considered Spokane,
Washington, to be his hometown. He is survived by his wife and children.

DAVID M. BROWN (CAPTAIN, USN) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born April 16, 1956 in Arlington, Virginia. Single. He is survived by his parents, Paul and Dorothy Brown.

ILAN RAMON (COLONEL, ISRAEL AIR FORCE) PAYLOAD SPECIALIST
PERSONAL DATA: Born June 20,1954 in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is survived by his wife Rona and their four children.

LAUREL BLAIR SALTON CLARK, M.D. (CAPTAIN, USN) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Iowa, but considered Racine, Wisconsin, to be her hometown. She is survived by her husband
and their child.

WILLIAM C. MCCOOL (COMMANDER, USN) NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born September 23, 1961 in San Diego, California. He is survived by his wife and children.


Pictures in Slideshow
        photo 1: their last photograph,         picture 2: taking off for its last journey,         photo 3: crash video recordings 1,         picture 4: crash video recordings 2,         photo 5: crash video recordings 3,         picture 6: crash video recordings 4,