COLUMBIA

¶Columbia was named after a Boston-based sloop commanded by Captain Robert Gray, who noted while sailing to the Pacific Northwest a flow of muddy water fanning from the shore, and decided to explore what he deemed the "Great

¶River of the West." On May 11, 1792, Gray and his crew maneuvered the Columbia past the treacherous sand bar and named the river after his ship. After a week or so of trading with the local tribes, Gray left without investigating where the river led. Instead, Gray led the Columbia and its crew on the first U.S. circumnavigation of the globe, carrying otter skins to Canton, China, before returning to Boston in 1793.

¶In addition to Columbia (OV-102), which first flew in 1981,

¶Challenger (OV-099) first flew in 1983, Discovery (OV-103) in 1984, and Atlantis (OV-104) in 1985. Endeavour (OV-105), which replaced Challenger, first flew in 1992. At the time of the launch of STS-107, Columbia was unique since it was the last remaining Orbiter to have an internal airlock on the mid-deck. (All the Orbiters originally had internal airlocks, but all excepting Columbia were modified to provide an external docking mechanism for flights to Mir and the International Space Station.) Because the airlock was not located in the payload bay, Columbia could carry longer payloads such as the Chandra space telescope, which used the full length of the payload bay. The internal airlock made the mid-deck more cramped than those of other Orbiters, but this was less of a problem when one of the laboratory modules was installed in the payload bay to provide additional habitable volume.

¶Columbia had been manufactured to an early structural standard that resulted in the airframe being heavier than the later Orbiters. Coupled with a more-forward center of gravity because of the internal airlock, Columbia could not carry as much payload weight into orbit as the other Orbiters. This made Columbia less desirable for missions to the International Space Station, although planning was nevertheless underway to modify Columbia for an International Space

¶Station flight sometime after STS-107.

ing launched before STS-107 because it was considered more urgent.

Flowliner cracks: About one month before the planned July 19, 2002 launch date for STS-107, concerns about cracks in the Space Shuttle Main Engine propellant system flowliners caused a four-month grounding of the Orbiter fleet. (The flowliner, which is in the main propellant feed lines, mitigates turbulence across the flexible bellows to smooth the flow of propellant into the main engine low-pressure turbopump. It also protects the bellows from flow-induced vibration.) First discovered on Atlantis, the cracks were eventually discovered on each Orbiter; they were fixed by weld- ing and polishing. The grounding delayed the exchange of the Expedition 5 International Space Station crew with the Expedition 6 crew, which was scheduled for STS-113. To maintain the International Space Station assembly sequence while minimizing the delay in returning the Expedition 5 crew, both STS-112 and STS-113 were launched before STS-107.

¶The Crew

¶The STS-107 crew selection process followed standard procedures. The Space Shuttle Program provided the Astronaut

¶Office with mission requirements calling for a crew of seven. There were no special requirements for a rendezvous, extravehicular activity (spacewalking), or use of the remote manipulator arm. The Chief of the Astronaut Office announced the crew in July 2000. To maximize the amount of science research that could be performed, the crew formed two teams, Red and Blue, to support around-the-clock operations.

¶Crew Training

¶The Columbia Accident Investigation Board thoroughly reviewed all pre-mission training (see Figure 2.1-2) for the STS-107 crew, Houston Mission Controllers, and the Ken-

¶Figure 2.1-2. Ilan Ramon (left), Laurel Clark, and Michael Anderson during a training exercise at the Johnson Space Center.

¶Left to right: David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool, Ilan Ramon.

¶Rick Husband, Commander. Husband, 45, was a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, a test pilot, and a veteran of STS-96. He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Fresno. He was a member of the Red Team, working on experiments including the European Research In Space and Terrestrial Osteoporosis and the Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment.

¶William C. McCool, Pilot. McCool, 41, was a Commander in the U.S. Navy and a test pilot. He received a B.S. in Applied Science from the U.S. Naval Academy, a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, and a M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. A member of the Blue Team, McCool worked on experiments including the Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System, Biopack, and Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment.

¶Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander and Mission Specialist. Anderson, 43, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, a former instructor pilot and tactical officer, and a veteran of STS-89. He received a B.S. in Physics/Astronomy from the University of Washington, and a M.S. in