Today, the flags of the United States and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration fly in memory of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, who perished twenty years ago today. Columbia Columbia disintegrated due to a basketball sized hole in the leading edge of its left wing, caused by a piece of foam which detached from the external tank during the ascent into orbit. On board the Columbia were seven astronauts: Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, and Mission Specialists David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, Laurel B. Clark, and Ilan Ramon.
The loss of Columbia is the third of NASA’s spaceflight accidents, the first of which were the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, and second was the loss of Challenger in 1986.
In the fitting works of STS-1 pilot Robert Crippen, “Hail Rick, Wille, KC, Mike, Laurel, Dave, and Ilan. Hail Columbia.”
Cruesbreck Flags 