Eerie details of the tragedy in Colombia that turned seven martyrs into “stardust” – Publimetro Chile
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Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy February 1, 2003, shocked the world and was a low blow to the pride of the United States and such a prestigious organization as NASA. The space agency has spent five years and condensed its investigation to 400 pages to reveal details – even gruesome ones – of the disaster that killed commander Rick Husband and astronauts Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space. a journey into space, and Laurel Clark: the latter’s husband, Jonathan Clark, participated in the study of the disaster.
Although the craft disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana upon re-entry, tracking also extended to Arkansas and Missouri. Was the longest in history, and only 40% of the ship was recovered. Of the more than 40,000 pieces or fragments found It was impossible to recognize its place or function in the original structure. This indicates the level of collapse of Colombia.
There was more in the search 25,000 volunteers and the FBI contributed 500 agents. The priority was to find the bodies of the seven crew members, and it took several days to find them all. Rescuers found that several people The bodies of the astronauts were found mutilated by the pressure of rotational motion and atmospheric changes.
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journey to the stars
A global investigation found that during launch, a piece of insulating foam broke off from the external tank and pierced one of the shuttle’s wings, leading to the disaster.
Likewise, an investigation by multidisciplinary teams concluded that the agony of the seven astronauts lasted forty seconds. This time passed from the moment the crew lost control until the moment the car disintegrated upon impact with the atmosphere. NASA notes that all crew members lost consciousness and life even earlier due to failures of spacesuits, helmets and seats that caused them. “Fatal injury.”
In addition, the report indicates that due to the severity of the disaster, the astronauts would have died anyway, even if there were no “lethal” faults in the equipment in their cabins. The document, released in 2016, avoids medical details of each astronaut’s death to respect the privacy of the victims’ families.
The document, published in 2016, contains a lot of technical details and, according to experts who analyzed it in perspective, is shocking. The crew of the Columbia could have died from asphyxiation when the ship depressurized or crashed into the ship’s walls and objects, especially those who were not seated when the accident occurred.
Almost half of the astronauts They were not wearing gloves or helmets.. But even among those who wore everything, it was found that since the helmet was an external element of the suit, its design did not fit well and, instead of securing and protecting the head, it struck them with lethal force. The straps holding the upper bodies in place also failed, leaving them under a crazy rotation. Finally, the defense mechanisms that required manual activation did not work when the group of martyrs had already lost consciousness.