The Happy Clown With A Frown: Remembering The Columbia Shuttle Crew

On Feb 1, 2003, after a successful 16 day mission, shuttle Columbia was returning to Earth with it's seven astronauts. While it was known that pieces of foam insulation usually fell off during launches, it was not known that a large piece of that foam had struck the leading edge of the wing on Columbia as it lifted off, creating a hole. Upon re-entry, hot atmospheric gasses penetrated the wing, causing the shuttle to disintegrate over parts of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, killing all seven astronauts.

Columbia Crew

Commander: Rick D. Husband, a U.S. Air Force colonel and mechanical engineer, who piloted a previous shuttle during the first docking with the International Space Station (STS-96).
Pilot: William C. McCool, a U.S. Navy commander
Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and physicist who was in charge of the science mission.
Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force and the first Israeli astronaut.
Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born aerospace engineer who was on her second space mission.
Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, a U.S. Navy captain trained as an aviator and flight surgeon. Brown worked on scientific experiments.
Mission Specialist: Laurel Blair Salton Clark, a U.S. Navy captain and flight surgeon. Clark worked on biological experiments.