![]() “They thought there was no way that light-weight foam could hit and punch a hole in the wing. “The foam on the external tank is the consistency of a Styrofoam cup, and the leading edge of the wing is made out of reinforced carbon that’s probably a quarter-inch, maybe a half-inch thick,” Lee said. However, when the shuttle missed its landing time back on Earth, NASA officials knew something was very wrong. At the time, Lee, industrial engineering former student and chief of NASA’s Office of Emergency Management at the Johnson Space Center, said people thought there was no way that would cause a hole in the wing. Insulation foam from an external tank broke off and hit the left wing of the shuttle. It was determined later the cause of the fatal event happened two weeks before, when the shuttle launched, 81 seconds into the flight. The disaster shocked the nation and left NASA officials with two questions: What happened? How do we make sure it doesn’t happen again? Evidence from debris showed this damage caused the wing to break off and the vehicle to break apart, killing all seven astronauts on board. ![]() Hot plasma that was heated to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit entered the left wing and melted the interior, burning through sensors and hydraulic lines and eventually destroying structural integrity of the wing. 1, 2003, the Columbia shuttle re-entered Earth’s atmosphere but never touched down. “Columbia is a part of our history, and we need to remember and learn from it,” said Ronald Lee ’86.
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